Nedum Onuoha dedicated his first QPR goal since August to his week-old daughter Amaia – later insisting he always knew he was going to hit the back of the net in the 5-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
The 27-year-old has had an injury-hit season for Rangers, but he produced a sterling display on his return to the starting XI on Saturday, in a week where his first child was born.
He said: “I was hopeful of scoring today as my baby girl was born last Sunday, so this was the first opportunity for me to show her I can actually play some football!
“The fact I actually did score was obviously fantastic. It was a crucial goal in the game that really swung the momentum in our favour going into the closing stages and then thankfully we were able to finish off the job.
“It was great to get back on the scoresheet as I was on a bit of a goal drought myself. I netted the first goal of our season and was hoping to go on a run and score a few more but that never transpired, but I’m glad to have ended that now!”
After twice being pegged back by the visitors, Onuoha was on hand to fire home emphatically from inside the box to make it 3-2 to the Rs with six minutes remaining, before they finished off the game in style. Injury-time goals from Ravel Morrison and substitute Bobby Zamora gave the scoreline an emphatic gloss, which in truth was flattering on Harry Redknapp's men.
However, Onuoha hopes Rangers can continue their goalscoring exploits in their final four games as they look to go into a probable play-off scenario in good form.
He added: “As long as we can hit some kind of form going into the play-offs I think we’ll give ourselves a great chance of succeeding. I think Burnley are comfortable in the driving seat in 2nd now, so we’ve got to try and finish 3rd and make sure we have a good ending to the season.
“The win over Forest will definitely give us a confidence boost though, but I always thought we could get the three points. Even when it went to 2-2 I said to the lads just before we kicked off again that I believed we could win the game.
“After all we had the likes of Yossi Benayoun, Niko Kranjcar, Tom Carroll, Ravel Morrison and Bobby Zamora all on the pitch at that point, so we were always to be a danger to them on the break. These are the type of players you want in your team - they’re some of the best."
Rangers boast play-off experience in the likes of Rob Green and Gary O’Neil should they be involved in them next month, but Onuoha says the experience and pedigree in the squad goes way beyond that regardless.
“It’s great to have players in the squad with play-off experience but at the end of the day I train against players every day who have played in the Champions League at some point in their career, and these are the type of people who will play a crucial role if we are to succeed - that's for sure.
"They'll be as motivated as any of us to do well and won't shy away either, so hopefully those big-name players can make the difference for us."
