Managerless Southampton ended their losing run with a 2-1 victory at QPR in their first match since the sacking of Will Still.

Teenager Jay Robinson’s deflected strike put the visitors, who had under-21s coach Tonda Eckert in interim charge, ahead early in the second half and Léo Scienza’s brilliant goal doubled their lead. Rumarn Burrell pulled a goal back but Rangers were unable to find an equaliser, slumping to a third consecutive defeat.

Southampton had lost their previous three matches, with Saturday’s home defeat by Preston resulting in Still losing his job, and were without a win in five.

Thierry Small’s sensational early strike set the tone as Preston moved up to fourth after beating Swansea 2-1 at Deepdale.

The 21-year-old let fly with an eighth-minute arrow from 30 yards to open the scoring and Milutin Osmajic got the decisive strike with a somewhat scruffier second after 49 minutes, his fourth goal of the season but his first since 23 August.

Eom Ji-Sung came off the bench to halve the arrears with a curling strike from range with 10 minutes of regular time to go but Preston held on for victory.

Barry Bannan’s early goal was not enough to...