QPR boss Mark Warburton revealed he was delighted to see Andre Gray mark his return from injury with a stunning late winner off the bench at Derby.

Watford loanee Gray was told by the club’s medical staff that he needed a further week to recover from a knee injury, but the 30-year-old talked his way onto the bench and made quite the impact.

The Rs’ tussle with Wayne Rooney’s side was level at 1-1 in the 90th minute when Ilias Chair headed Chris Willock’s cross onto the post with the ball falling to Gray who teed himself up before swivelling round and volleying into the top corner to steal all three points at the death.

“I know Andre so well, we signed him a long time ago at Brentford, I know him inside out and he was phoning me at home to say I’m ready,” explained Warburton.

“The medical team have got to look after the players, don’t forget he’s a loan player so we have a responsibility to him and to his parent club but the dialogue was good, he was ready for 15-20 minutes and trained well yesterday.

“You saw a performance tonight, it was a fantastic finish by him and he’s got that in his locker. He’ll frustrate you sometimes, he won’t mind me saying he’ll hit Row X sometimes but then he’ll turn round and hit that quality.”

High-flying QPR had gone behind at Pride Park when Tom Lawrence slotted his 50th career goal after just ten minutes. 

The home side held on until the break but five minutes into the second half the Hoops drew level when Charlie Austin’s cross found Willock who slammed a volley in at the back post.

Gray replaced Austin for the last quarter of an hour and Warburton was impressed with both of their efforts on Monday night.

He added: “We got the equaliser at the right time. Charlie put in a really good shift for us and to have somebody of Andre Gray’s quality come off the bench and do that was very pleasing.”

However, the Rangers manager was not best pleased with his side’s efforts in the first half, but after they turned it around in the second period, Warburton suggested his men were good value for the win that sent them soaring up to third in the Championship table.

He explained: “I thought first half we were tentative, lacking in pace and purpose to our play and gave away a soft goal.

“Although they never really threatened after that goal, we lacked a bit of quality to deserve an equaliser if I am honest.

“We needed to be quicker, which is what we do when we are playing well.

“In the second half we played far more forward and were positive in decision-making. We looked a good team in the second half and I think we deserved to win the game.”