Ilias Chair Leads QPR to 3-1 Victory Over Portsmouth

Ilias Chair struck twice as QPR ripped up the script at Fratton Park, overturning an early deficit to beat Portsmouth 3-1 and end a 26-year wait for a league win on the south coast.

For half an hour, it looked like a long afternoon for the visitors.

Pompey fly out of the blocks

Portsmouth, roared on by a near-21,000 sell-out in the sunshine, came out with a swagger. New £2.5m signing Abu Kamara went straight into John Mousinho’s starting XI, while Adrian Segecic and Luke Brooke-Smith quickly set about testing QPR’s new-look defence.

An early Segecic corner found Conor Shaughnessy, who glanced his header wide. Moments later, Brooke-Smith stepped onto a loose ball and lashed a fierce 25-yard drive straight at debutant goalkeeper Pierce Charles. Portsmouth were on the front foot, QPR pinned back.

Rangers’ first real look at goal didn’t arrive until the 12th minute, when Pompey failed to fully clear a corner and Chair’s shot was blocked almost on the line by Ebou Adams. It was a warning rather than a turning point.

Portsmouth’s dominance finally produced the goal it deserved on 15 minutes. Terry Devlin, collecting possession 30 yards out, bent a stunning curler into the corner of Charles’ net. The Northern Ireland international didn’t need a second invitation; Fratton Park erupted.

QPR’s problems deepened when Boy Kemper, handed a league debut, limped off injured inside 20 minutes. Portsmouth smelt blood. Kamara was inches from turning in Zak Swanson’s teasing far-post cross, while Segecic twice threatened – first whipping in a cross Brooke-Smith couldn’t quite finish, then dragging a shot wide under pressure from Jake Clarke-Salter after being slipped through by Kamara.

At that stage, QPR were hanging on.

Chair turns the game on its head

Then, almost out of nowhere, the match flipped.

Twelve minutes before the break, Rangers levelled against the run of play. Harvey Vale found space on the left and drilled a low ball across the box. Chair, inexplicably left unmarked, darted in to toe-poke home from point-blank range. One chance, one goal, and suddenly the noise around Fratton Park dipped.

The equaliser rattled Portsmouth. Seven minutes later, they were behind.

Koki Saito picked up the ball just inside the area and let fly. His effort was going on target, but a wicked double deflection – first off Devlin, then Rocco Shein – completely wrong-footed goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid. The ball spun into the net. From cruising at 1-0 up, Pompey were staring at 2-1 down, stunned.

Rangers smelled opportunity. Deep into first-half stoppage time, they struck again, and again Chair was the man in the right place. Amadou Mbengue surged down the flank and delivered a low cross that sliced through a static defence. Chair arrived to apply another simple finish. Portsmouth’s back line had crumbled; QPR had scored three times in 15 minutes.

Mousinho’s side walked off to half-time knowing they had let a dominant position unravel in brutal fashion.

Pompey waste chances, QPR shut it down

Portsmouth did have a route back early in the second half. Ten minutes after the restart, Charles gifted them a lifeline with a loose pass straight to Kamara. With the keeper stranded and the goal half-open, the new signing could only fire tamely back at Charles. It summed up Pompey’s afternoon.

QPR, with Julien Stephan constantly barking instructions from the touchline, managed the game with far more control after the interval. The visitors tightened up, kept their shape and looked to spring on the break, while still carrying a threat through the irrepressible Chair.

The Moroccan almost completed his hat-trick when he burst into the box and drove a low effort at the near post, only for Schmid to block with his legs. On another day, he walks away with the match ball.

Portsmouth pushed, but the sense of inevitability had gone. Substitute Josh Murphy injected some pace, firing one effort into the side-netting and flashing two more dangerous balls across the face of goal. Each time, a blue shirt failed to apply the decisive touch. For all their territory, Pompey never truly looked like dragging themselves back into it.

Stephan admitted he wanted his side to “kill the game” with a fourth during their best spell after the break. They didn’t need it. The damage had already been done in that ruthless first-half burst.

QPR left Fratton Park with their first away win over Portsmouth since May 2000, a statement comeback built on calm heads, sharp finishing and a No 10 who refused to let the occasion pass him by. For Pompey, the question now is how quickly they can rediscover that blistering opening tempo – and sustain it for more than 25 minutes.