Queens Park Rangers slipped to an agonising 1-0 defeat at Manchester United in the Carling Cup last night.

The R's pushed the Premiership champions all the way and were only 14 minutes away from taking the tie to extra time but Carlos Tevez's late penalty proved decisive.

United dominated the game but struggled to make the breakthrough with Ji-Sung Park firing against the post.

After falling behind, they almost grabbed an unlikely equaliser but Samuel Di Carmine's effort was ruled out for offside.

Rangers' caretaker manager Gareth Ainsworth was pleased with their effort but insists the Championship is their most important competition of the season.

He said: "We have given a good account of ourselves and this is a fairytale for me.

"But we are back down to earth at Burnley on Saturday. The Championship is important for us. We have massive ambition and we want to get out of it."