Newcastle 1 - 0 Quenns Parker Ranger

Mark Hughes quit Fulham with dreams of managing a ­Champions League club and one that matched his ­ambitions.

Now he must be wondering if his switch to QPR can even be classed as a sideways move. The paucity of skill and spark in his new side was exposed, even by an average Newcastle ­performance, and the future looks Championship, unless Hughes can work a miracle.

The Welshman will need a fortune in the transfer market if he is to lift this lot out of the bottom three by May, and his desire for a long-term reign to build a legacy will be tested by the next few difficult months.

Even with two of their best players, Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote, at the Africa Cup of Nations, and losing playmaker Yohan Cabaye early to injury, Newcastle had more than enough to snuff out the visitors’ ­challenge.


It was a victory lacking in much entertainment or excitement, but that mattered not a bit to the frozen Geordie faithful. After the champagne of the last league win over Manchester United, this was more of a grind.

The three points lifted Newcastle ahead of ­Liverpool into sixth spot, their excellent season rumbling on with an efficient win despite considerable disruption to their best XI.

It left Alan Pardew fielding questions of whether his side can maintain their remarkable league position.

But for Hughes and QPR there is a long struggle ahead with a blunt attack looking below Premier League quality.

Hughes spent most of his debut game gesticulation at the referee. But close up there were some telling glares at his assistant Mark Bowen at to the mistakes on show from the Hoops.

He stayed upbeat though, insisting: “I’m pleased with the performance but not the result. Given we’ve had a week in the building and you can only put so much ­information into players.

“As the weeks go on we will become better. You saw a committed team. The players looked after each other, worked hard, communicated. That augers well. We’re looking to make QPR better.”

Leon Best produced the key moment of skill which condemned QPR to a week at least in the bottom three.

Best has a habit of stepping up to the mark for Newcastle when required. Last season he took to leading the line after Andy Carroll was sold, and came up with crucial goals during the run-in so the £35million man was hardly missed.

With many worrying where Newcastle’s goals would come from with Ba absent, Best weighed in with his first contribution for months.

He had not scored in 10 starts since mid-September, about the time Ba caught fire. That statistic was put right after 36 minutes. Shola Ameobi won a header on the edge of the box, and Ryan Taylor slipped the ball out left Best.

He still had plenty to do, but twisted and turned around Luke Young and curled a finish past Paddy Kenny from eight yards.

It was a moment of quality in a match that had niggled along, the main talking point being whether Shaun Derry should have been sent off for his tackle on Cabaye.

The French winger was carried off after Derry caught him on the top of a foot. Cabaye left the pitch livid Derry only got a yellow card.

Perhaps ref Chris Foy, who controversially send Vincent Kompany off last week for a two-footed tackle, could not afford another ­acrimonious decision.

Hughes’ men were clearly not afraid to block and disrupt at every opportunity and were ­penalised accordingly – but Hughes ranted on the touchline that Foy was bowing to pressure from the crowd.

QPR did have chances to level, mainly through misfiring Jay Bothroyd.

He was a Newcastle target this time last year and came close to beating Tim Krul with a curling shot that shaved a post.

Bothroyd spurned another chance, blazing over when unmarked 12 yards put.

He was then sent in on goal after a good break by Jamie Mackie, but Krul saved well.

Having told Hatem Ben Arfa he must work harder, Alan Pardew left him on the bench. It was only a brief absence, Ben Arfa replacing Cabaye on 25 minutes.

He had his best moment breaking from deep after 72 minutes, setting up Best whose cross shot was almost turned in by Shola Ameobi. Newcastle had enough in defence to see out the game.

Top Six? Pardew said: “Ask me when we get through this period without two great players.

“We’ve overcome both hurdles since they went. If we can get a couple of wins with our boys away, when they come back we’ll get an incredible boost.”