Kone return is right on time for R's

The Championship's tightest defence met the top half's lowest scorers at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Games involving Swansea had yielded the fewest goals so far this season and all the stats pointed to it being a close affair against Queens Park Rangers.

It wasn't.

It took just 14 minutes and 40 seconds for QPR to take a 3-0 lead, with striker Richard Kone getting all of them.

The Ivorian was so out of form and favour earlier this season, he wasn't even making the QPR squad, but in the midst of an injury crisis he answered his manager's call emphatically.

It's the earliest hat-trick in any of English football's top four divisions since Opta started keeping records in 2004.

This QPR side are missing attacking players like Nicolas Madsen, Rumarn Burrell and Ilias Chair, with Karamoko Dembele only just returning from a long-term knee issue, which has kept him out of the side since January.

To put five past a Swansea side who had only conceded eight goals all season before the weekend is impressive in its own right, let alone with what feels like a perpetual injury crisis for manager Julien Stephan.

Kone told me after the game he will be keeping his hat-trick ball on top of the new cupboard he recently bought, which seems pretty good timing.

But you could argue it's not perhaps as timely as his welcome return to form for this depleted QPR squad as they move just three points away from Swansea in the automatic promotion places.