Nahki Wells was delighted to get ‘back up and running’ for QPR in Tuesday’s dramatic Carabao Cup victory over Bristol City.
The striker – who re-joined the R’s on loan from Burnley on transfer deadline day – was involved in almost all of Rangers’ attacking play against the Robins in W12.
He drew his team level at 1-1 with a brilliant strike on 15 minutes and, late on, won the spot-kick that Ryan Manning dispatched to force the tie to a penalty shootout.
“I was able to take it early and I caught the keeper a bit flat footed,” the striker said of his goal. “There was some good communication between me and Matt Smith, so I was delighted to get back up and running.
“I feel like I never left [the club] and hopefully this will give me a platform to go on and get more. This year is a big year for me.
“I want to get back in that XI and I am confident that I can do so. I need to perform week-in, week-out to do so and I was happy to do so tonight.”
QPR led once in the six-goal thriller and trailed twice and Wells felt that his side were worthy winners in the end.
He said: “It was a real back-and-forth game. I thought we played some great stuff at times and were the better team over the course of the 90.
“We deserved to win and we are delighted to go through on penalties. It’s good that it went straight to penalties because it meant we could save our legs a bit ahead of playing them again on Saturday.”
The victory means that QPR will now face Portsmouth in round two of the competition. It will be the third time in 2019 that the clubs have faced each other, having contested an FA Cup tie and replay at the beginning of the year.
He said: “We had two tough fixtures against them last season. I was fortunate enough to score a couple of goals in those games and I’m looking forward to trying to do the same again.
“These cup games are important for me. At the moment, I need to try and claim that ‘number nine’ shirt, that starting shirt, and these games give everyone the opportunity to do well.
“I’m excited for the next round but more importantly Saturday [against Bristol City] is a big one for us.”
Rangers went on to win the shootout 5-4, with Wells making no mistake from the spot, and afterwards he told www.qpr.co.uk that he was thrilled to be back amongst the goals.
|
