Pawel Wszolek tucked past Darren Randolph to put QPR in front
Queens Park Rangers ended a four-game wait for a Championship victory with an impressive win against stuttering promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough.
Rangers went in front when winger Pawel Wszolek turned in from close range, the only goal in a first half which the home side dominated.
Having been on the back foot in the opening 45 minutes, Boro levelled shortly after the break when Rangers were down to 10 men as they waited to replace defender Joel Lynch, who had gone off injured.
George Saville's volley from the edge of the box seared past goalkeeper Joe Lumley, and Stewart Downing then went close soon after.
However, striker Nahki Wells tucked in from Wszolek's cross to extend Boro's winless streak to four matches, in which they have scored only three times.
Boro drop down to sixth, while Rangers move to within five points of the play-off places.
The omens were against McClaren's side going into this meeting with his old club, as Rangers had been beaten by Boro in each of their past four league meetings and conceded three goals in each of the last three.
The Teessiders were also unbeaten in six away from home, but QPR dictated the game at Loftus Road and enjoyed the best of the chances.
Wszolek might have had a second but his shot drifted wide, while Ryan Shotton's block brought a flowing move between Eberechi Eze and Wells to an abrupt end.
Boro boss Tony Pulis insisted that referee Oliver Langford should have awarded the visitors a first-half penalty for a foul on Britt Assombalonga. And he was unhappy with decisions made by the officials in the build up to Wells' goal.
QPR manager Steve McClaren:
"We deserved to win on the basis of the chances we created and the way we defended. It would have been a travesty had we not won.
"We showed great determination, could have scored more goals and defended resolutely right to the end.
"We had chances to score more. It was a great performance by all the players. We had to defend for our lives. Some of our football, in a tooth-and-nail game, was very good.
"This team never says die. It comes back and, after our second goal, we had something to hang on to. We needed this win. The three points are a big bonus for us."
Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis:
"We need a few breaks. We certainly don't need decisions going against us like they did today. We had an incident in their box, from a corner, where Assombalonga is actually rugby-tackled down and the referee is just five yards away from it and doesn't give it.
"Then we've got an incident in the second half where an offside is given but their player had touched the ball last, so Jonny Howson is 100 per cent not offside. Not only does he give offside, but the goalkeeper (Joe Lumley) then takes it from the edge of the box from a rolling position when the incident has happened 25 yards away.
"We had four or five players then past the ball when they scored the second goal. It's got to be an even playing field. The referee has got to look at those and we'll see what he says.
"Because of the situation with us not scoring goals, the team is trying their damnedest to win a game of football. The players have reacted to the fact that we haven't been scoring and, in their desperation to score, we've lost our shape a bit."
