Ian Holloway enjoys QPR homecoming as Sebastian Polter goal sinks Norwich

As homecomings go, Ian Holloway couldn’t have planned his any better until the final 12 minutes. An early red card for Norwich City’s Martin Olsson helped Queens Park Rangers record only their second home league win since the end of August and condemned the visitors to a fourth successive defeat.

But even if he was made to sweat after Steven Naismith’s late header, following first-half goals from Conor Washington and Sebastian Polter, made it a nervy finish, Holloway has already made his mark in his second spell at the club. A few eyebrows were raised when he was asked to succeed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink after almost 18 months out of the game following his sacking by Millwall last year, yet the man with a reputation for zany quotes is also a manager of substance, with two Championship play-off victories on his CV in the not-too-distant past. With their side now just four points from the top six, QPR supporters will be wondering if he can do the same here.

Holloway had bowed humbly to the three sides of Loftus Road who greeted his return before kickoff and was still signing autographs as the match began.

After an era of spending big under owner Tony Fernandes, these are more straitened times at the club where he made almost 150 appearances as a player before becoming manager in 2001, and the 53-year-old spoke of reconnecting the club with its “working-man fanbase” at his unveiling this week.

“I had to steady myself in the tunnel before the game,” he admitted afterwards. “I didn’t want to come out with a tear in my eye, so I had to compose myself.”

One of his first acts this week had been to show his new players the motivational film Coach Carter, starring Samuel L Jackson, and it clearly had the desired effect in the first half. After this beating – which means his side slip further behind in their bid for an instant return to the Premier League – Norwich manager Alex Neil’s local video shop should expect a call over the next few days.

A throw from Jack Robinson after just 40 seconds caused havoc in the visitors’ area and Olsson was sent off for blocking Washington’s effort on the line with his hand. After a long delay in which Olsson appeared to refuse to leave the pitch at first, Tjaronn Chery screwed his penalty wide, but it didn’t take long for him to make amends.

An inswinging corner picked out Polter on the back post and his header was turned home from close range by his strike partner. Six minutes later, the German striker took advantage of a sumptuous through ball from Chery and prodded the ball through Jon Ruddy’s legs to double QPR’s advantage.

“When you lose a man within 30 seconds of the start, then all the work we’ve done all week goes out of the window,” said Neil, who made six changes to the team that lost to Leeds United a fortnight ago. “It was really frustrating because I’ve given an opportunity to some different players, but they’ve not had the chance to express themselves unfortunately. We’re on a bad run at the moment and certainly that kind of start didn’t help us. The squad that we’ve got should be doing better.”

To their credit, though, Norwich never gave up and almost found a way back into the game when Jacob Murphy’s effort struck the crossbar. Naismith had endured a frustrating afternoon, but made no mistake from Murphy’s ball in from the right a few minutes later to leave Holloway fearing the worst.

Despite a few creaks from his defence as Norwich swept forward in search of what had seemed an unlikely equaliser, he was able to celebrate the beginning of what QPR’s embattled fans will hope is the start of a bright new era.

“I’m very pleased with some of the skill here – [defender] Joel Lynch was dancing down the wing like Di Stefano,” said a beaming but clearly relieved Holloway.

“What a day. I really need to go and lie down now. For what I’ve been doing recently that’s the equivalent of four months work in one week. I feel like I’m on one of those rides at Disneyland.”

You sense the rollercoaster has only just begun.