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QPR chalked up their first home victory last night, making it three out of four so far this season, beating Cardiff 2-1. We looked the better team, with 20 shots to their nine, and an xG of 2.09 to their 0.60. But we made heavy work of it, with Jimmy Dunne, Alfie Lloyd and Harvey Vale all missing highly presentable chances. The additions of Charles Pierce, Tariq Lamptey and Glen Kamara have turned us into a much better team going forward, but we need to be more clinical in front of goal if we’re going to finish in the top eight. Julien Stéphan made five changes to the team that won at Blackburn, rotating the players in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last season’s injuries. Ronnie Edwards dropped back into defence in place of Jake Clarke-Salter, with Kamara getting his first start in midfield alongside Nicolas Madsen; Tariq Lamptey started at left back instead of Dennis Cirkin; Koki Saito and Harvey Vale replaced Ilias Chair and Paul Smyth in attacking midfield; and Alfie Lloyd was preferred to Richard Kone up top, with the Ivorian among the substitutes. Justin Obikwu made the bench for what I think was the first time this season, although he didn’t get a run out. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Pierce Charles in goal; Amadou Mbengue, Dunne, Edwards and Lamptey in defence; Kamara and Madsen in midfield; Saito, Vale and Rumarn Burrell as the attacking trio; and Lloyd leading the line. Before the game, we were treated to the debut of the new club anthem, with the composer standing on the pitch to mark the occasion. Unfortunately for him, it was greeted with boos and a chant of “What the fucking hell was that?” As a fan in front me put it: “It was a difficult listen and a difficult watch.” Let’s hope we stick with ‘London Calling’, not least because the co-writer of that song, Mick Jones, is a QPR fan. The first 15 minutes were pretty scrappy, with both sides seemingly quite unsettled. There were lots of misplaced passes and balls being kicked into touch. Our first chance came from a corner in the 8th minute, with Dunne having a free header in front of goal. He had time to place it, but put it just wide of the far post – disappointing from the captain. Burrell had a shot blocked in the 16th minute, as did Vale shortly afterwards. A lovely flick from Lloyd put Burrell in behind in the 20th minute, but his cut back was poor and when the ball fell to him again his shot was blocked. Then, in the 21st minute, Lloyd made a great run into the box, rolled his man, and got off a decent shot that was just a few inches too high. Had he scored, it would have been a goal of the season contender. That capped a good 15-minute spell for us in which we could have scored at least twice, but we dropped off after that, allowing Cardiff to come back into it. Would our failure to take any of those chances come back to haunt us? Happily, we scored in the 36th minute. Saito won a corner after bursting forward, Madsen took it, and, after a scuffle in the box, Burrell managed to stab the ball over the line. Cue a chant of “Burrell again, Burrell again, Burrell again olé olé.” It was great to see the Jamaican back on the score sheet – it’s his first goal since January. We cranked up the pressure again after that and should have got a second a few minutes later when Saito cut a lovely ball back for Vale. But with the goal gaping, he took a touch when he should have just struck it first time, and when his shot did come it was a pea roller that was just wide of the far post. It really wasn’t Vale’s night. I felt reasonably confident when we went in 1-0 at half time, but even more so when Burrell got a second in the 54th minute. This time, Edwards was the creator, playing it out from the back, beating an attacking Cardiff player, then sending a lovely through ball down the left that put Burrell in behind. His confidence was back, having scored one already, and he took a couple of touches then fired it past the keeper and into the top right-hand corner. A proper striker’s goal. Alfie Lloyd got a shot on target a minute later that needed saving, then Saito had a chance, but sent it sailing over the bar. Burrell had an opportunity to make it three in the 57th minute, then another shortly afterwards with Lamptey finding him in the box with a decent cross. But he put both chances wide. Stéphan made a quadruple substitution in the 71st minute, bringing on Jonathan Varane for Madsen, Jake Clarke-Salter for Lamptey, Kealey Adamson for Mbengue and Dennic Cirkin for Kamara. With Clarke-Salter in the back line, Edwards moved up to take over midfield duties from Kamara, but it took the substitutes a while to settle into their new roles and the visitors took advantage of our disarray to claw one back in the 75th minute. It was a worldy from the edge of the box by Perry Ng that Charles couldn’t have done anything about. That made for a nervy final 20 minutes, although to give us credit, we didn’t go into a defensive crouch after conceding, but continued pressing for a third and could have got one if Vale hadn’t squandered another opportunity in the 85th minute. Ilias Chair, who replaced Lloyd in the 81st minute, also had a chance in the 3rd minute of added time, but dragged it wide. Happily, we managed to hold on to our one-goal lead and collect all three points. As with our previous game, we were the better side and deserved to win, but it feels like the team is still a work in progress and could be even better. The summer signings have all been great, particularly Charles, and we now have strength in depth in some areas of the pitch for the first time in years. Those signings are all the more impressive when you factor in that we’ve spent the second least in the Championship over the summer. But beating teams like Portsmouth, Blackburn and newly-promoted Cardiff – and drawing to another newly-promoted side – isn’t much of a test and it will be interesting to see how we fare against Middlesbrough on Saturday. As Charlie said afterwards, we should enjoy this good spell while it lasts because there we’re bound to go on some losing streaks later in the season. We’re currently joint top on 10 points. You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.