A moment of magic from former Galway United midfielder Ryan Manning set QPR up for their third win in a row, beating Reading 1-0 at the Madejski Stadium.
The former Ireland Under-19 international, who signed for the London side in January 2015, and has just recently broken into the first team at Loftus Road, put in a devastating midfield performance to help Ian Holloway’s side move well clear of the relegation zone.
But it was a combination of Manning’s desire and vision, which decided this 1-0 encounter against Premier League hopefuls Reading.
With the home side dominating the early stages, the visitors capitalised on a loose pass in midfield to set up a counter-attack in the 28th minute.
And Manning burst forward with a 50-yard dash to get up with the play and then showed great poise to flick an audacious pass to the back post to hand Jamie Mackie the simplest of tap-ins.
Sitting in the middle of the park, Manning then looked calm and composed for the remainder of this tough encounter against the promotion pushing Reading, and will surely now look to catch the eye of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill by maintaining his starting place in the QPR first team.
The victory sees the Hoops move up to 15th in the table, now eight points clear of the relegation zone, while Reading missed out on a great chance to close the gap on second-placed Newcastle and remain in third place, six points off the automatic promotion places.
