Queens Park Rangers have fallen to their first defeat of pre-season courtesy of a 3-1 loss to Groningen this evening.
The Championship side, who beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 in their last outing, ended their tour of the Netherlands with the defeat courtesy of goals from Juninho Bacuna and Danny Hoesen either side of a Cole Kpekawa own goal.
The match got off to a quick start as both sides pushed for an early opener, with Brian Linssen firing one shot wide moments before Jay Emmanuel-Thomas failed to finish off Michael Petrasso's pass.
It was the hosts who took the lead after just 13 minutes, though, as Bacuna followed up well to convert a rebound after Matt Ingram had saved the initial effort.
Tjaronn Chery almost restored parity midway through the first half when he latched on to an under-hit back-pass, but a combination of Sergio Padt and a covering defender kept the QPR man at bay.
The visitors did have the ball in the back of the net on the half-hour mark, but Petrasso was ruled offside, before Steven Caulker was called upon to make a last-ditch challenge at the other end of the field.
Chances continued to arrive at both ends as the half wore on, with Emmanuel-Thomas flicking one header just wide before Ingram made a smart save at his near post moments later.
The deficit remained at one going into the break, though, and QPR set about looking to cancel that out in the second half when Darnell Furlong and Michael Doughty both threatened in quick succession.
It was Groningen who got the second goal of the game, though, striking against the run of play when Kpekawa nodded the ball into his own net.
This time there was an immediate response from QPR, and the visitors pulled one goal back inside two minutes when Emmanuel-Thomas converted from close range having been found by Doughty.
QPR continued to look the most like scoring after that goal, with Nasser El Khayati coming close twice, first with a curling effort that needed tipping round the post and then when he dragged a volley wide of the mark.
Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink's side soon found themselves two behind once again, though, as Ariel Borysiuk gave away a penalty which Hoesen duly converted with just 15 minutes of the match remaining.
There proved to be no way back for the Hoops after that goal, and Groningen saw out the victory to send QPR back to England on the back of a defeat.
