Macauley Bonne says forming a strike partnership with Lyndon Dykes and playing under Mark Warburton were the motivation for joining QPR.

The Rs were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Birmingham at Loftus Road on Saturday in a game where new recruits Bonne and Dykes both started up front together.

Bonne, who turned 25 on Monday, joined Warburton’s ranks from Charlton in the summer while Scotland international Dykes arrived from Scottish Premiership side Livingston.

Former Leyton Orient hitman Bonne relished the chance to line up alongside Dykes and admits terrorising Championship defences with the fellow 25-year-old was what attracted him to W12.

“Forming a partnership with Dykesy is one of the reasons I wanted to come to QPR,” he said.

“I want to play alongside him under the management of Mark Warburton.

“We’ve only played 70 minutes together so far but hopefully we can steadily start to form a partnership and learn about each other.

“If we can get that going then it could be massive for the team this season.

“We do our analysis work and a lot of it is about talking. We talked to each other a lot during the game and we are still learning about each other.

“As the games are coming so fast, there isn’t much time to train and it is all about that communication on and off the pitch.”

Neither Bonne nor Dykes were able to find the net against Aitor Karanka’s Blues in a game that lacked any form of creative spark.

Birmingham striker Scott Hogan had a second-half goal ruled out for offside and while Ivan Sunjic almost stole a smash and grab three points, Warburton’s side held on for a hard-earned point at home.

The Rs are currently 16th in the Championship table and five points adrift of the play-off places.

They travel to Barnsley on Tuesday and Warburton is calling on his team to adopt a more direct approach against Valerien Ismael’s – who only took over as boss from Gerhard Struber on Sunday – second-tier strugglers.

“We must get the ball towards the other end,” Warburton, 58, said.

“We were trying to walk the ball into the net - score too perfect a goal.

“Sometimes you just need to flash the ball across, get a nick on it and get something.

“It was poor in the first half, if I’m honest - we didn’t move the ball with any real intensity or purpose and we looked a bit lacklustre.

“We didn’t mix it up enough and didn’t deserve anything in the first half.

“The second half was much better and we moved the ball a lot quicker. We created chances in that second half and it was much better from us.

“It’s a tough programme of fixtures at the moment. You just rest and then get ready for the next game.”