Hughes delighted with first QPR win

QPR manager Mark Hughes was delighted after his first Premier League victory at the Loftus Road club.

The London club beat Wigan 3-1 at home with Heidar Helguson opening the scoring from the penalty spot.

Akos Buzsaky scored a stunning free-kick to make it 2-0 at half-time, but Hugo Rodellaga halved the deficit with another impressive free-kick, leaving Tommy Smith to secure the points with a late strike.

Hughes praised his side for the way they had adapted to a difficult period following Neil Warnock’s departure.

“I’m delighted,” Hughes said.

“A good performance. Initially we started off a little bit slowly, a bit apprehensively, but I think that’s to be expected to be perfectly honest given that we hadn’t had too many games where we’d put points on the board.”

“But I thought we settled down reasonably quickly after that opening period and started to get the ball down and pass and move.”

“We have a real understanding. It’s not easy winning Premier League games, everybody knows that, but you give yourself a better chance if you’re committed, work hard and make things happen and that’s what we did today.”

“You have to have mental strength, strong characters and come together as a group. I’ve sensed that there’s a real togetherness with them given the circumstances.

Wigan manager, Roberto Martinez was disappointed with his team, particularly with conceding the two opening goals from dead-ball situations, while he also questioned the decisions his young players made that led to the goals.

“We got punished by two goals from dead ball situations,” Martinez said.

“It was a very unfortunate penalty from our point of view and an outstanding piece of quality with the free-kick and it really set us back.”

“But then in the second half, once we got the ball back we were starting to get on the ball and push them back. And then there was the ridiculous decision to award the second penalty. I don’t know where that was coming from.”

“But it’s disappointing; we were expecting to come here and have a better performance all round than what we showed.”

“(The handball for the first penalty) the wrong decision, and obviously we’ve got young players – very talented players – and we have to invest in this type of player, a youngster you can develop, but makes the wrong decision.”

Martinez is still confident that his side could avoid relegation.

“Obviously we have to play a lot better than we did today. That’s clear.”

“We didn’t adapt to the two injuries we picked up this week and that’s something we have the chance to get right with the January window.”

“But we have had a tough spell. The eight defeats that we had on the trot has put us in a very difficult position but we overcame that and now we are ready. 16 games to go, we know we need to get eight wins. I think we are well capable of doing that.”

“The belief is there, the desire is there and in a way we are used to facing adversity and facing this situation.”