Israeli footballer Tomer Hemed came off the bench to help Queens Park Rangers to a 2-0 win over Millwall on Wednesday night – despite the fact he was still fasting for Yom Kippur when the game kicked off.

Hemed, who joined the West London club on loan in August, started the match on the bench. The holy day had not yet finished by the 7.45pm kick-off time.

Tomer Hemed has just come on for QPR having fasted for the last 24 hours due to the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur.

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— Marc Benamram (@MarcBenamram) September 19, 2018

His manager, Steve McClaren, told Sky Sports before the match that Hemed would eat during the first half, and come on as a substitute if needed.

McClaren, who has previously worked as a coaching consultant for Maccabi Tel Aviv, said: “As an Israeli, he follows the Jewish religion meticulously. And today is Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement, and he’s been fasting from eight o’clock last night until it finishes at eight o’clock tonight.

“We had a chat – he said it’s very difficult to start [the match]. It’s very unusual because Yom Kippur hardly falls on a game day, but it has this time.

“We’ll hopefully get some food into him in the first half, keep him on the bench, and if we need him in the second half he can play some minutes.”

Amazing. Steve McClaren says Israeli player Tomer Hemed was kept on the bench at the start of QPR vs Milwall because it was Yom Kippur and he was fasting. The fast ended during the game so he had a drink and came on pic.twitter.com/52MEQ6xfo1

— Raoul Wootliff (@RaoulWootliff) September 20, 2018

After goals from Massimo Luongo and Eberechi Eze put QPR 2-0 up, Hemed came on after 73 minutes to help his side see out the win.

QPR now sit 16^th in the Championship, the second tier of English football.