Philippe Clement revealed Jovon Makama played through pain in Norwich win at QPR

Norwich boss Philippe Clement revealed goalscorer Jovon Makama featured in the 2-1 victory at QPR after being encouraged by his team-mates to play despite being ill.

The 21-year-old forward came off the bench to net the Canaries’ second goal – his ninth of the season and fifth in as many games.

Josh Sargent put the Canaries ahead in the first minute of the second half and their win was effectively sealed by Makama’s deflected shot in stoppage time before Amadou Mbengue responded.

Clement explained: “He had a fever and didn’t train. This morning the fever was gone but he still felt not top.

“It happened a few weeks ago, also, and at that moment he didn’t play. We had a talk with him, the team had a talk with him also about that – about digging in in difficult circumstances – and now he did.

“As a young player he took another lesson, that sometimes you need to play through pain or in circumstances when you’re not top.

“That’s what he did and he got the reward, and the team got the reward, so I’m really satisfied.”

It was a priceless win for struggling City, who began the day second-from-bottom of the Championship but moved up a place in the table.

Clement was also pleased with the way they adapted to an awful playing surface at Loftus Road.

He added: “We couldn’t play our normal game with the circumstances of the pitch. You need to adapt and if you want success you need a team that can adapt to circumstances.

“So it’s clearly very positive how the team reacted to play more direct than we’re used to, which was necessary.

“I’m really proud of the team. We’re working hard with the group on this never-giving-up mentality and always digging in, whatever the circumstances. I’m really happy with the response.

“No excuses. Wherever you play and if somebody tells us that we need to play in a parking lot to win a game, then we need to do that, simple as that.”

QPR head coach Julien Stephan admitted he has been taken aback by his team’s dip in form.

A recent 4-1 victory against Leicester was Rangers’ fourth consecutive home win and left them in the thick of the play-off race.

But they have lost ground by losing two of their three matches since, drawing the other.

“It’s a bad run for us in the last three games, for sure, and the Christmas period is not the best moment to have this period, but we have to deal with the situation,” said Stephan.

“It’s a big surprise because we’ve had some very strong performances at home. It’s difficult to explain why, in 10 days, a big drop like this.

“The first goal we conceded at the beginning of the second half had a huge impact on the result and we struggled mentally after that.

“It’s not the first time that has happened this season and we need to learn from that probably more quickly, because it can happen but we need to react – and we have shown that we can react.

“It’s a disappointing performance, especially in the second half. It was very, very difficult for us and we could never find a solution.

“We wanted to start 2026 with a different result and performance.”