Bothroyd: ‘Of course I can score goals in Premier League’

Jay Bothroyd insists it is just a matter of time before he starts finding the net for QPR in the Premier League, despite drawing a blank in the opening-day capitulation to Bolton Wanderers.

The Rs’ striker, who scored 18 goals for Cardiff in the Championship last season, twice came close to breaking his duck against the Trotters at Loftus Road on Saturday, heading Adel Taarabt’s corner narrowly wide and having a close-range shot deflected over the crossbar.

Those missed chances proved costly in the second half as QPR were punished for not capitalising on their early dominance, with Wanderers rattling in three unanswered goals in 12 minutes.

Bothroyd admits it was a frustrating introduction to the Premier League for himself and his team-mates, although he believes his overall performance proves that goals are just around the corner.

“Of course I feel I can score goals in this league, I think every forward has to be confident he can do that,” said Bothroyd. “I feel I contribute to the team and I want my team-mates to appreciate what I do for them. That’s all I can do, work hard and keep it going.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t [score], I had that shot that looked like it was going in until it was headed over the bar. But that’s football, I’ll keep getting in there, getting chances, and hopefully I’ll score some goals.

“I’m looking forward to every game in the Premier League. I’m enjoying it, and even though it wasn’t the right result today I’m delighted to be back, and hopefully we can put in some better performances as a team and get the right results.

“I haven’t set myself a target, I think the target we all set ourselves is to stay in the Premier League.”

QPR boss Neil Warnock fielded four new signings, with Bothroyd and DJ Campbell handed starts in attack, Kieron Dyer playing at right-back and Danny Gabbidon at centre-back.

That made for a disjointed display from Rangers, after an initially promising opening spell, and after half-time their top-flight inexperience was exposed as Wanderers took firm control of the game.

But Bothroyd believes that the first hour, which QPR largely dominated and should have been at least on level terms, demonstrated that they have enough quality to recover from the result.

“We’re disappointed with the scoreline, but for about 60 minutes apart from the Cahill goal I think we were the better side, and we showed we can play in this league,” added Bothroyd.

“We controlled the game and we were very positive. Obviously then they scored the second and our heads might have dropped a little bit, we weren’t defending how we were in the first half.

“If we had got the rub of the green maybe it could have been a different outcome, but it wasn’t to be. We have to take the positives from it, and the positives are that for 60 minutes I felt we were the better side. But we have to learn from that, we’ve got a lot of work to do this week.

“There have been some new additions, but today I felt comfortable, good in myself, I had a few chances, linked up pretty well with all my team-mates.

“From a personal point of view I was pretty happy, but obviously it’s all about the team, we’ve got to work harder as a team, become better as a team, and we need to get some points on the board.”

Follow Ian Cooper on Twitter @QPRTimes