Portsmouth’s relegation worries continue after being hit for six by QPR

Paul Smyth, Rayan Kolli and Richard Kone all scored twice as QPR thrashed relegation-threatened Portsmouth 6-1 at Loftus Road.

Rangers were three up within half an hour, with Smyth putting them ahead and then netting again after Kolli’s first goal.

John Swift gave Pompey hope with a goal before the interval, but Kolli scored again in the second half and Kone added a late brace, one of them a penalty.

The south-coast club are now without a win in six matches – a run which has included five defeats – and are just one place and one point above the drop zone.

Rangers, who had lost three home games in a row, were on top from the start and went in front after seven minutes.

Harvey Vale’s attempt to slip Kolli in on goal was cut out by Regan Poole, but the loose ball dropped to Smyth, whose strike from near the edge of the penalty area was helped in by a deflection off Pompey defender Connor Ogilvie.

Kolli doubled Rangers’ lead on 24 minutes, collecting Smyth’s pass and firing a low, right-footed shot beyond goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid from 25 yards.

It was 3-0 five minutes later as Vale, included in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup play-off squad this week after switching his international allegiance from England, was involved again, supplying a perfect pass in behind the Portsmouth defence to Smyth, who slotted past Schmid.

The visiting fans were irate, with chants of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” bellowing out from the away end as John Mousinho’s side struggled to string a couple of passes together.

But they pulled a goal back out of nothing seven minutes before half-time when Swift, who gave the ball away in the build-up to the opening goal, scored with a right-footed strike from 25 yards that went in off a post.

Soon afterwards, QPR keeper Joe Walsh nervously fumbled Terry Devlin’s shot over the bar and, early in the second half, an unmarked Jacob Brown side-footed over after being found by Ogilvie’s cross from the left.

Portsmouth appeared to be finding a way back into the game, but Kolli’s 55th-minute goal essentially sealed Rangers’ win.

The young striker got the better of Conor Shaughnessy on the right, galloped towards goal and netted with a clinical finish, firing into the far corner of the net.

Kone made it 4-1 with an 86th-minute penalty after Esquerdinha was adjudged to have been tripped by Colby Bishop on the left-hand side of the box.

The striker netted again just over a minute later, racing onto Vale’s through-ball and thumping home.