Miron Muslic’s first week as Plymouth Argyle head coach ended with a 1-0 defeat by Queens Park Rangers at Home Park as his task to try to lead his new club to Championship survival became even harder.

A 1-1 midweek draw at home to Oxford was followed by this loss to QPR, leaving the bottom-of-the-table Pilgrims on a dismal run of 13 league games without a win.

Argyle simply did not carry enough attacking threat against QPR, who have now lost only once in their last 12 Championship matches and clinched their win with a 65th minute goal from substitute Rayan Kolli.

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The visit of promotion-chasing Burnley to the Theatre of Greens on Wednesday will be another difficult challenge for Argyle, who are in deep trouble and starting to lose touch with the teams above the relegation zone.

Striker Ryan Hardie returned to the starting line-up against QPR after missing the previous three matches due to a shoulder injury in the only change from the midweek draw with Oxford.

Brendan Galloway was ruled out by an injury which he picked up near the end of that game, leaving Muslic with Victor Palsson and Julio Pleguezuelo as his only two fit central defenders, with Kornel Szucs still also on the casualty list.

Argyle switched to a 4-2-3-1 set up against Rangers, with Bali Mumba and Tymoteusz Puchacz the full-backs either side of Palsson and Pleguezuelo.

Adam Randell and Darko Gyabi were the central midfield duo, while the attacking trio behind Hardie were Morgan Whittaker, Michael Baidoo and Rami Al Hajj,

Dan Grimshaw continued between the posts for the Pilgrims with Conor Hazard again sidelined by injury. Zak Baker provided the goalkeeping cover on the bench.

There was a yellow card for QPR midfielder Jonathan Varane less than 50 seconds after the kick-off for a blatant foul on Puchacz as the Poland international tried to make a surging run forward.

Argyle had an early scoring chance when Puchacz fired in a cross from the left and Al Hajj came up with a clever back heel which was on target but straight at ‘keeper Paul Nardi.

QPR threatened for the first time in the 14th minute when Paul Smyth got to the by-line and crossed the ball towards Sam Field, who flicked it wide of the near post with the outside of his left foot.

Smyth then fired wide for Rangers from outside the Argyle box after cutting inside a challenge from Whittaker before QPR defender Ronnie Edwards did well to cut out a dangerous cross from Mumba after an excellent defence-splitting pass from Randell, who had the captain’s armband for Argyle again.

There was then a near miss for Rangers when a deep corner from Kenneth Paal was nodded back inside by Morgan Fox to Edwards, whose flicked header went just inches wide.

Argyle had plenty of attacking players in their side but were struggling to turn that into scoring opportunities, such as when Randell over-hit a pass for Baidoo when he looked to run in behind the QPR defence.

QPR were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Argyle box after a foul by Randell on Smyth. It was taken by Ilias Chair but he sent the ball straight into the defensive wall.

Rangers went very close to breaking the deadlock in the 41st minute when the ball broke to striker Michael Frey inside the Argyle penalty area after Mumba slid in to make a tackle on Smyth.

Frey seemed certain to score but Grimshaw spread himself as he sprinted off his line and made a magnificent save, pushing the ball wide for a corner, as it remained goal-less until the interval.

After a bright start from Argyle, the visitors from west London had posed more of the attacking threat, with Smyth always involved in their best moments.

Jordan Houghton was an Argyle substitute for Gyabi at the start of the second half and slotted into central midfield alongside Randell. Hardie had an early goal attempt blocked behind for a corner off Edwards.

Grimshaw then came to the rescue for the Pilgrims again when the ball was played into the feet of Frey inside the penalty area by Jimmy Dunne.

With no offside flag raised, the QPR striker only had the ‘keeper to beat from eight yards out but Grimshaw produced a superb reaction save.

Callum Wright was Argyle’s second substitute in the 59th minute when he replaced Al Hajj before QPR were gifted an excellent chance to open the scoring soon afterwards.

A throw-in from Mumba inside Rangers territory was too short for Pleguezuelo to get to and instead QPR substitute Kolli broke away but his eventual shot was deflected wide for a corner.

Kolli made no mistake with his next opportunity, though, as he gave Rangers a 65th minute lead. The attack started when Mumba miscontrolled the ball as it dropped to him inside the QPR half and Chair raced away.

His initial shot was well saved by Grimshaw but rebounded back to Chair and he played the ball across to Kolli, whose low strike found the bottom corner of the net.

Wright sent a curling shot wide as Aryle tried to come up with an immediate response before Muistapha Bundu was sent on as a 73rd minute substitute for Hardie.

There were a further two changes in the 80th minute with Ibrahim Cissoko and Matty Sorinola sent on for Baidoo and Mumba as Muslic looked for fresh attacking inspiration.

Whittaker did put one good cross into the QPR penalty area in the closing stages but Bundu could not get there and the ball was headed away for a corner.

Field shot narrowly wide as the game went into four minutes of added time at the end of the second half but that miss did not prove costly as Rangers held on to win 1-0.

ARGYLE: Dan Grimshaw; Bali Mumba (Matty Sorinola 80 mins), Julio Pleguezuelo, Victor Palsson, Tymoteusz Puchacz; Adam Randell, Darko Gyabi (Jordan Houghton h/t); Morgan Whittaker, Michael Baidoo (Ibrahim Cissoko 80 mins), Rami Al Hajj (Callum Wright 59 mins); Ryan Hardie (Mustapha Bundu 73 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Zak Baker, Nathanael Ogbeta, Caleb Roberts, Freddie Issaka.

QPR: Paul Nardi; Jimmy Dunne, Ronnie Edwards, Morgan Fox, Kenneth Paal; Jonathan Varane (Jack Colback 59 mins), Sam Field; Paul Smyth (Koki Saito 75 mins), Kieran Morgan (Harrison Ashby 86 mins), Ilias Chair (Alfie Lloyd 86 mins); Michael Frey (Rayan Kolli 59 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Joe Walsh, Jake Clarke-Salter, Nicolas Madsen, Daniel Bennie.

REFEREE: Darren Bond

ATTENDANCE: 16,988

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