Saturday 20 September 2014 16:35, UK
Harry Redknapp hailed a ‘vital point’ for Queens Park Rangers after his side twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home with Stoke City.
Steven Caulker’s header cancelled out Mame Biram Diouf’s opener for Stoke in the first half before Niko Kranjcar curled home a late free-kick for QPR after Peter Crouch had restored the visitors’ lead.
Redknapp was delighted with Kranjcar’s finish and praised the character of his team for claiming a point at Loftus Road.
"It was a vital point for us in the end," Redknapp told the club’s official website. "Sitting there with five minutes to go, I was thinking it might not be our day, but Niko showed his class.
"It was a fantastic free-kick and that's what Niko does best. It was a great, great goal.
"There's no-one I'd rather have on the ball in that situation than Niko. He dug it out the top drawer and got us a vital point.
"It's a big point for us - we need to keep picking up points, even when we're not at our best.
"If we'd lost today the lads would be on the floor, but we kept getting at them and got back into it thanks to a moment of brilliance.
"To come back twice, against a tough team like Stoke, is great."
Joey Barton and Jordon Mutch, who both missed last week’s defeat at Manchester United, were forced off with hamstring strains and Redknapp was left to lament the injury setbacks.
He added: "It was a difficult day for us with the injuries we picked up. It's been a tough week really.
"We had a lot of players with knocks in the week and then Joey and Jordon both picked up fresh hamstring injuries today.
"It was difficult. We lost Sandro on Thursday with a knee injury as well. We were short in certain areas, but credit to the lads, they kept going.”
