George Hirst and Marcelino Nunez at the double as Ipswich thrash QPR

George Hirst and Marcelino Nunez scored twice as Ipswich stormed to a 4-1 victory at QPR.

Hirst opened the scoring after barely a minute at Loftus Road before Rumarn Burrell equalised midway through the first half.

Both Nunez’s goals were from free-kicks, with the first restoring the visitors’ lead at the start of the second half.

Hirst made it 3-1 after 57 minutes and Nunez added a fourth seven minutes later to seal a resounding win for the Suffolk side amid speculation linking their manager Kieran McKenna with Celtic.

Rangers were poor despite recently being boosted by the return of several key players, including Ilias Chair, who started a match for the first time since August.

Chair, so often his team’s talisman, helped them hit back after their nightmare start with a trademark cut-in from the left flank to make room for a right-footed shot.

Goalkeeper Christian Walton could only parry Chair’s low strike and Burrell pounced on the loose ball to score his third goal in his past four appearances.

It hauled QPR level after Hirst had put Ipswich ahead with the first attack of the match.

Sindre Walle Egeli went past teenage left-back Esquerdinha with ease and crossed towards Hirst, who climbed above R’s defender Liam Morrison to head home from six yards.

Rangers’ spirits were lifted by their 21st-minute goal but it was a similar story at the start of the second half, with Ipswich again scoring in the opening couple of minutes.

After Isaac Hayden’s clumsy foul on Jaden Philogene near the left-hand edge of the penalty area, Nunez whipped the resulting free-kick past keeper Paul Nardi and into the far corner of the net.

It was a fine strike but Nardi was positioned towards that corner and should have done better.

Ipswich then took total control and a sweeping move from back to front culminated in Darnell Furlong, playing against his former club, crossing from the right for Hirst to score again with a header.

There was no way back for Rangers after Nunez struck again from a free-kick, this time firing into the bottom corner.

A second successive win is a big boost for Ipswich after an indifferent start to life back in the Championship following last season’s relegation from the top flight.

Rangers, meanwhile, have lost three of their past four matches and their home form remains a concern – they have now won just two of their past 12 league games in front of their own fans.