QPR boss Mark Warburton: I hope we’re becoming harder to beat – but you can’t tempt fate in the Championship

BY SAM SMITH

Mark Warburton hopes his Queens Park Rangers side are becoming harder to beat after an excellent 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Yoann Barbet scored the only goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. The West Londoners then defended superbly to preserve the lead.

The win moved QPR a healthy five points ahead of the Championship relegation zone.

Warburton said: “You look at the block of Rob Dickie, the block of Lee Wallace. They all stood up to a man. They created chances, we should have been a bit more ruthless in front of goal. Charlie [Austin] had a great strike that was blocked away right in front of goal.

“There were chances for both teams. I hope we’re becoming harder to beat, but I never want to tempt fate in this division because it comes back and bites you in the arse. We’ve got to defend our goal with a real passion and be ruthless in front of goal.

“That’s a big win. Blackburn are a very, very talented team, they are where they are in the league for a reason. They score goals, they get bodies forward, they get on the half-turn and stretch you. Look at the bench – they had [Bradley] Dack coming on with [Ben] Brereton and [Lewis] Holtby. It’s a very talented squad that has been assembled.

“We knew the attacking threat they posed. We just had to be resilient, stand up against them, we knew their set-pieces were going to be dangerous. The boys, to a man, did that.

“We also knew we had to pose an attacking threat. We had some good early chances, Todd [Kane] had his one at the far post, Charlie and Lyndon [Dykes] also got in.

“It was a case of two footballing teams trying to stop each other, wary of the threat. The first 30-40 minutes were pretty stale, but after that the teams committed. It was a big three points for us.”

IMAGE: Keith Gillard