Ilias Chair Shines as QPR Ends 26-Year Wait with 3-1 Victory at Portsmouth
Ilias Chair struck twice as QPR ripped up the script at Fratton Park, coming from behind 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 sellout in the sunshine, started with purpose and bite. New £2.5m signing Abu Kamara went straight into John Mousinho’s XI, while QPR handed league debuts to teenage goalkeeper Pierce Charles and defender Boy Kemper.
The tone was set early. Adrian Segecic’s corner found Conor Shaughnessy, whose header drifted wide, and soon after summer arrival Luke Brooke-Smith let fly from 25 yards, stinging Charles’ palms.
QPR barely laid a glove in those opening exchanges. Their first real look at goal came in the 12th minute, when Portsmouth failed to clear a corner and Ilias Chair’s effort, destined for the net, was blocked in front of the line by Ebou Adams.
The warning went unheeded.
Three minutes later, Pompey had the lead they deserved. Northern Ireland international Terry Devlin stepped onto the ball from 30 yards and curled a stunning strike into the corner of Charles’ net. Fratton Park erupted; QPR were rocking.
Their problems grew when Kemper limped off after just 20 minutes, forcing an early reshuffle. Portsmouth smelt blood. Kamara almost slid in a second at the far post from Zak Swanson’s teasing cross, inches away from a tap-in as the noise levels climbed again.
Segecic buzzed between the lines, latching onto a clever flick from Colby Bishop before whipping in a cross Brooke-Smith failed to connect with. Then Segecic burst through once more, played in by Kamara, only to drag his shot wide under pressure from Jake Clarke-Salter.
At that stage, Portsmouth were enjoying themselves. QPR were hanging on.
Chair turns the tide
Then the game flipped.
Twelve minutes before half-time, Rangers levelled completely against the run of play. Harvey Vale found space on the left and whipped in a low cross; Chair, inexplicably unmarked in the six-yard box, stretched out a toe and poked home from point-blank range. Silence from three sides of Fratton. A pocket of away fans suddenly alive.
The equaliser drained the energy from Pompey. QPR sensed it.
Seven minutes later, they were in front. Koki Saito took aim from just inside the area and his shot pinballed cruelly off Devlin and Rocco Shein, wrong-footing goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid and nestling in the net. From dominance to disbelief, Portsmouth’s control had vanished in a messy deflection.
Julien Stephan’s side weren’t finished.
Deep into first-half stoppage time, they carved Pompey open again. Amadou Mbengue drove into space on the right and drilled a low ball across the box. Chair had ghosted into position once more and, with defenders static, rolled in another simple finish. From 1-0 down to 3-1 up in 15 breathless minutes, QPR walked off to boos from the home crowd and a stunned Mousinho.
Portsmouth’s response falls flat
Mousinho’s players needed a quick lifeline after the break and they almost got it, gift-wrapped. Ten minutes into the second half, Charles passed straight to Kamara on the edge of the box. With the keeper out of position and the goal half-open, Kamara could only fire tamely back at Charles. A huge chance wasted, and a glaring moment that summed up Pompey’s unraveling.
QPR, by contrast, looked ruthless whenever Chair picked up the ball. The playmaker almost completed his hat-trick, bursting into the box and forcing Schmid into a sharp save with his legs at the near post.
Portsmouth pushed, but never with the same clarity they showed early on. Substitute Josh Murphy injected some urgency, drilling one effort into the side-netting and flashing two more across the face of goal. Each time, the ball skidded away without a finishing touch, the comeback drifting further from reach.
Rangers, as Stephan later pointed out, managed the key spell after the break with maturity. They kept the ball when they needed to, tightened up at the back and threatened on the counter. The only thing missing for them was a fourth goal to truly kill it.
Managers’ verdicts
Mousinho did not disguise his frustration.
He described it as a “really strange game”, pointing to Portsmouth’s “complete control for the first 25 minutes” and a “deserved lead” that evaporated as his side “fell apart” after the equaliser. He lamented poor decisions, a drop in intensity and too many chances conceded, admitting they had given themselves “too much to do”.
Stephan, in contrast, highlighted his team’s composure in a hostile environment. He praised their calmness after a difficult start, their faith in the game plan and their clinical edge with the three first-half goals. He did, though, regret not adding a fourth during a strong spell in the second half, sensing that would have finished the contest.
QPR did not need it. They had already done enough to end a 26-year wait at Fratton Park and send an early message about their resilience on the road. The question now is whether this dramatic turnaround becomes a one-off memory, or the foundation for something far more serious this season.
