John Eustace was given a painful demonstration of the size of the task he has to save Derby from relegation as his new side slumped to a 4-0 loss at QPR.
Ilias Chair scored twice, with Koki Saito and Ronnie Edwards also on target on a disastrous first day at the office for the new Rams boss.
QPR’s Ilias Chair celebrates after scoring the opener against Derby County
Eustace raised eyebrows this week by leaving Blackburn, a side challenging for promotion to the Premier League, for one battling the drop to League One.
While Rovers lie fifth, Derby’s humbling in west London meant they slipped into the bottom three on goal difference.
Eustace certainly knew what was in store for his new side on Friday night, as his final match with Rovers was a 2-1 defeat at Loftus Road just 10 days earlier.
Derby had actually started with a lot more purpose than in recent weeks, but that disappeared the moment they fell behind to Rangers’ first shot on target.
Michael Frey did well to hold the ball up between three County defenders on the corner of the penalty area before smuggling it out to Chair.
The Moroccan midfielder let the ball run across his body, turned and launched a rocket past the dive of visiting keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom and into the top corner. Amazingly, for a player never averse to having a shot, it was Chair’s first goal of the season.
Derby could have equalised when a headed clearance dropped to Ebou Adams just inside the box but he blazed the chance over the crossbar.
Frey almost topped Chair’s strike with an even more spectacular effort, but his first-time volley from 25 yards flew narrowly wide.
But moments later Rangers did have a second after Chair pinged a low cross into the area.
Zetterstrom dived out to block the danger but succeeded only in pushing the ball to the feet of Saito, who took a sideways touch before lashing into the roof of the net from six yards.
Eustace’s first half-time team talk needed to be a good one, but whatever the message was it failed to have the desired effect.
Just before the hour mark Chair had his second, and Rangers’ third, when he tucked away a cut-back from Tottenham loanee Yang Min-hyeok.
Then Edwards, on loan from Southampton, headed the fourth from Kenneth Paal’s free-kick as Rangers, who could be dark horses for the play-offs, wrapped up a seventh win in eight home outings.
A miserable night for Eustace was summed up when his side finally created a decent chance only for Kayden Jackson to stab it over from three yards out.
The managers
QPR’s Marti Cifuentes:
“I liked a lot of things about the performance.
“We didn’t really know what to expect from them but everybody was so committed.
“Ilias Chair is one of the best players in the league. I’m glad he got two goals.
“He’s a bit angry at me for taking him off because he wanted a hat-trick. We are happy he is playing well.”
Derby’s John Eustace:
“Obviously I’m really disappointed with the result.
“I learnt a lot about the group tonight, and there is lots I’m excited about. There is also lots we can improve on.
“I thought we started well but the goal they scored knocked the wind out of our sails. Then we didn’t defend the box well enough for the second, third and fourth goals.
“We’ve got an exciting week ahead on the training pitch and lots to work on. I know this group of players is going to fight for every point and the hard work starts on Monday.
“I’ve come to Derby not just for the short term but for the long term and it’s my job now to give as much confidence as I can to the players. You can see they are low on confidence at the moment.”
