Mark Warburton believes his QPR side should have gone on to win the game after equalising against Blackburn Rovers, despite falling to a 3-1 defeat.

Rovers eventually ran out comfortable winners at Ewood Park, but the visitors looked to be in the ascendency once Lyndon Dykes had cancelled out Ben Brereton’s strike on the hour mark.

They couldn’t capitalise on their chances though, and a brace from Adam Armstrong later in the game saw Rangers go into the international break on the back of a defeat. 

Having weathered the home side’s torrent of attacks in the first half, it looked like Warburton’s side could have taken at least a point, but he believes there were a number of areas where his side let themselves down.

“I thought we were lucky to go in at the break level,” Warburton said. “Seny (Dieng) made some very good saves and we rode our luck in the first half.

“After going behind, and then getting the penalty we looked in good shape to go on and win the game.

“But you have to win your duels. The Championship is about doing the basics extremely well and in areas today we didn’t quite do that.

“It was a typical Championship game and in many areas today we were good, but we let ourselves down in certain places.”

Defeat in Lancashire puts a sour ending on a successful week for QPR, having tasted success over both Derby County and Cardiff this week. 

The two -game winning streak already looked to be in jeopardy in the early stages on Saturday, with Armstrong among those to be kept at day by Seny Dieng in the Rangers net. 

Brereton eventually opened the scoring five minutes after the interval with a sublime acrobatic effort, before Dykes converted from 12 yards after Rob Dickie was sent sprawling in the penalty area.

From there it was all to play for, but it was the hosts who took their chances when they came, with Armstrong being slipped in by a sumptuous Harvey Elliot pass, and calmly slotting home to restore Rovers’ advantage. 

The frontman added his second on the counter late into injury time, leaving Warburton demanding more from his side, who fell to their fourth defeat of the season.

“We can take some positives from the week we have just had, but we have come here and wanted to win,” he said.

“Obviously Blackburn have had some injury issues and they have had a little dip in form after a really good start.

“They are always a tough squad to beat, we know that, but I thought that if we moved the ball quickly we would be in good shape.

“You saw that in the second half, but in those periods you have to get your rewards and get the goals and we didn’t do that today.”