Carabao Cup first round: Queens Park Rangers 2 (Freeman 3, Wszolek 6) Peterborough United 0
Queens Park Rangers eased into the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win at home to Sky Bet League One side Peterborough United.
Rs took control of the tie early on, with both Luke Freeman and Pawel Wszolek netting inside the opening six minutes.
From there, it was simply a case of game management as the west Londoners saw the match out, though had to contend with a spirited Posh effort in the second half.
The hosts made six changes for the cup clash following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United in the Sky Bet Championship.
Conor Washington was among those to come into the starting XI, pitting the forward against his former employers.
Joe Lumley, Jordan Cousins, Alex Baptiste, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Wszolek were also recalled to the starting line-up.
Despite the large number if changes, it was one of the few who started against the Blades that opened the scoring in just the third minute as Freeman tapped in from close range.
A cross from the right by Washington was poorly dealt with by away stopper Aaron Chapman, who pushed the ball into Freeman’s path and the midfielder duly applied the finish from 12 yards.
The Rs doubled their lead three minutes later, with Washington involved once again.
The Northern Ireland international dinked the ball into the path of Wszolek, who took one touch before calmly slotting past Chapman and into the net from 15 yards.
That proved to be the last time QPR would truly threaten the Peterborough goal in the opening half, though they maintained a healthy level of control and were rarely in trouble at the back.
A third nearly arrived in the 49th minute, though, when Josh Scowen flashed a central free-kick from 25 yards narrowly wide.
The Rs had a left off four minutes later when a cross from Posh winger Joe Ward caused confusion in the home defence, before Steve McClaren’s men cleared their lines.
In doing so, the hosts launched a swift counter-attack led by Washington, who fed Osayi-Samuel, whose pushed his eventual effort from inside the box wide.
Posh, though, were likely lively early in the second period, with Siriki Dembele close to finding the net with a stunning volley in the 58th minute, instead shooting just wide.
The Rs were keen to seal the victory, with an effort from 20 yards with the outside of his boot from defender Jake Bidwell testing Chapman with 14 minutes remaining.
Six minutes later, only a fine save with his feet from Lumley prevented Dembele from pulling one back for Posh with a shot from six yards.
Peterborough continued to push, with Matt Godden finding fellow substitute Jason Cummings on the penalty spot in the 84th minute, but the Scot could not get a clean connection and the chance went begging.
QPR, though, were able to hang on to their clean sheet as McClaren earned his first win as boss.
And the former England manager will hope the Rs can triumph again when they visit West Bromwich Albion in the league on Saturday.
QPR (4-2-3-1): Lumley; Kakay, Leistner, Baptiste, Bidwell; Cousins, Scowen; Wszolek, Freeman (Manning 77), Osayi-Samuel (Eze 67); Washington (Smith 83).
Subs: Ingram (GK), Hall, Smyth, Sylla.
Peterborough (4-4-1-1): Chapman; Naismith, Bennett, Tafazolli, Denton; Dembele, Woodyard, O’Hara, Ward (Cooper 73); Cooke (Cummings 46); Toney (Godden 77).
Subs: O’Malley (GK), Buckley-Ricketts, Reed, Yorwerth.
Referee: Gavin Ward.
Attendance: 4,021 (including 706 Peterborough fans).
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