Steve McClaren took heart from his side’s narrow defeat to promotion chasing Sheffield United as David McGoldrick’s first-half effort ended QPR’s six game unbeaten streak.

The R’s slipped behind eight minutes before the break as in-form McGoldrick slotted his fifth goal in six matches and QPR were unable to retaliate as John Egan almost doubled the Blades’ advantage late on.

Yet despite only being reduced to two efforts on target all game, McClaren spoke highly of his side in defeat to the second-placed Blades.

“I’m disappointed because we gave them a great game,” he told QPR’s website.

“It was one hell of a battle. Two good teams went toe to toe, slugged it out and one goal ultimately decided it.

“There wasn’t much in the game. I thought our shape, the way we defended, was magnificent. But we didn’t show enough quality in the final third and you don’t win games unless you score – unfortunately we failed to do that.”

Victory for McClaren’s men would have seen QPR leap to just one point off a play-off spot, but instead defeat dropped them down to 11th in the table.

QPR had only 44 per cent possession against the promotion candidates and reduced United to just two shots on target themselves – figures McClaren knows could make the difference when his side face the big boys once again.

“It’s a narrow defeat, we’re dealing with narrow margins, and they didn’t go our way today,” said the former England boss.

“We’re disappointed to concede the way we did,. We talked about how they score goals like that before the game and worked on it.

“But I thought the boys started well, recovered well from going behind and gave it a real go especially in the second-half.

“It’s disappointing to end our run – we’ve got to start another one next week.

“We competed well here today but we move on quickly as you do in the Championship and focus on Preston.”