Mark Warburton insisted that QPR’s emphatic return to winning ways was no surprise to him despite Rangers hitting Cardiff for six to triumph for the first time in five attempts. 

A hat-trick from Nahki Wells on top of a Bright Osayi-Samuel double and one from Ebere Eze saw the R’s kick off 2020 in perfect fashion at Loftus Road. 

And Warburton, who had watched his side slip down the table after an impressive start to the campaign, believes that the performance is a true barometer of what they are capable of. 

“I always have a lot of respect for Neil Harris and every Cardiff team but a scoreline like that has been coming for us, in terms of us creating chances and not getting our rewards,” he told QPR’s website. 

“The stats today were similar to our recent games but today we were far more clinical.

“We knew we had to switch the ball from side to side against a good Cardiff side with their physicality.

“We had to defend with a real passion and all over the park we gave good displays - from one to 11, we looked really strong.

“I thought we deserved to win by that number of goals because of the number of chances we created and how good we looked going forward.”

Up next for Rangers is a shot at Swansea in the third round of the FA Cup - a competition that the side have a notoriously dismal record in, having passed the first hurdle only once in their last six attempts. 

But Warburton says that his charges have got the tools to deliver this time around. 

“This team has good character, a good work ethic, a lot of desire and the recent results haven’t reflected the quality of our performances,” he continued. 

“We have to make sure this team gets their rewards because if we do then the belief

grows.

“If we can create high-quality chances then we are a good team and come the end of

the season we’ll be in a good place if we keep creating them.”