Ilias Chair Shines in QPR's Dominant Win Over Portsmouth
Ilias Chair reminded everyone exactly what QPR were missing last season, ripping through Portsmouth with two goals and an assist in a ruthless away win at Fratton Park – only Rangers’ second victory there in three decades.
The 28-year-old playmaker, sidelined for four months with a calf injury as QPR’s previous campaign fell apart, ran the game on the counter. Every time Portsmouth over-committed, he was waiting.
Devlin ignites Fratton – briefly
Portsmouth arrived with ambition and started like a side aiming higher than mere survival in their third Championship season.
They were sharper, quicker to everything. Conor Shaughnessy nodded over early on, debutant Luke Brooke-Smith forced a save, and QPR looked pinned in.
The breakthrough came on 15 minutes and it was worth the wait. A QPR clearance from a free-kick never made it out of danger, Ebou Adams recycled the ball, and Terry Devlin took over. In space more than 30 yards out, he let fly with a right-footed drive that swerved viciously away from his Northern Ireland team-mate Pierce Charles and into the net. A stunning strike, fully in keeping with Portsmouth’s dominance.
At that point, it felt like the afternoon might run away from QPR.
Instead, it woke them up.
Chair takes control
Julien Stephan’s side didn’t try to fight Portsmouth for territory. They simply waited for mistakes and broke at speed.
On 33 minutes, the home defence handed them exactly what they wanted. Harvey Vale lifted a simple dinked ball into the middle, and chaos followed. Goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid and his back line froze, Chair didn’t. He ghosted in and prodded home from close range, a soft equaliser from Portsmouth’s point of view and a lifeline for QPR.
The mood inside Fratton Park shifted. Portsmouth still had the ball, but QPR now had belief.
Seven minutes later, they had the lead. Again, it was on the break. Chair drove at the retreating defence and slipped in Koki Saito. The Japan international’s effort took a deflection off Devlin and wrong-footed Schmid, spinning past him and into the net. Clinical. Two shots on target, two goals.
Portsmouth looked stunned. QPR smelled blood.
Deep into first-half stoppage time, the visitors carved them open again. Amadou Mbengue surged down the right, untracked, and had time to pick his pass. He found Chair, completely unmarked, and the forward steered in his second of the afternoon with calm precision. Three shots on target before the break, three goals. Stephan’s gameplan had worked to the letter.
From 1-0 down and under pressure to 3-1 up and in control, all in the space of half an hour.
Portsmouth waste their way back
John Mousinho’s side had chances to turn the tide after the interval but lacked the edge QPR showed.
Shaughnessy headed a free opportunity wide when he should have at least tested Charles. Substitute Abu Kamara then squandered a gift: Charles kicked the ball straight to him, only for the debutant’s tame effort to be saved.
The QPR goalkeeper made amends again to deny Marko Milovanovic, while Rocco Shein snatched at a chance he ought to have done more with. The pattern was clear – Portsmouth huffed, QPR held.
There was a flicker of late threat when Josh Murphy, back from groin surgery, came off the bench and flashed a strike across goal, but even that skipped past without a touch.
By then, the damage was long done. Chair had already written the story, and QPR had walked out of a ground that has haunted them for 30 years with a statement win and a reminder: with their talisman fit and firing, they look a very different proposition.
