Warburton praises players after QPR draw

Mark Warburton praised QPR’s players after the 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest but admitted they paid the price for missing chances to go 2-0 up in the second half.

Lyndon Dykes put Rangers ahead just before the interval but was unable to take decent opportunities to double the lead.

And Forest, who were the better side for much of the game, rescued a point when Jack Colback’s stoppage-time strike was deflected past keeper Seny Dieng by Jimmy Dunne as the defender attempted to head the shot away.

Warburton said: “We defended their set-piece threat very well, got the goal before half-time and then we had a lot of chances in the second half to finish it off – and that’s the ruthless side of the game.

“We were creating chances and getting forward. The boys did a great job. They worked tirelessly.

“For their goal it was a speculative shot with a wicked deflection that Seny could do nothing about.

“It’s a dressing room that’s hurting because it would have been three good points and put us fourth going into the weekend, but I saw lots of positives in the second half.

“But I think we’ve got to recognise that in the second half we had three or four excellent chances to finish it off and at 2-0 it’s game over.

“We looked dangerous and had some very, very good chances. It’s about that ruthless edge to finish them off, which is important.”

It was a tough night for Rangers, who lost Sam McCallum and Jordy de Wijs in the first half.

McCallum, who recently returned to action, injured his hamstring again, and De Wijs then went off with a calf problem.