Marti Cifuentes hailed the resilience of his players after QPR saw out a hard-fought goalless draw against promotion hopefuls Burnley.
The hosts dominated possession but were unable to fashion many clear-cut opportunities, with Rangers’ defensive discipline limiting the Clarets’ threat on Paul Nardi’s goal.
After ending their torrid run of four straight losses against Coventry City in midweek, the result at Turf Moor acts as second-consecutive game without defeat for QPR, who sit three points adrift of Plymouth Argyle outside of the relegation zone.
And up against such stiff opposition, Cifuentes could not have been prouder of his side.
He said: “It was a difficult game for us but a massive point according to the situation where we are, especially with the issues we have gone through over the last 24 hours with players out.
“The courage and the bravery the players showed in terms of fighting for the badge was very impressive.
“Burnley are a very good team, we know they have individual quality and they are in a good trend.
“We knew that the game scenario could be that in some parts of the game we could be in a low block but the idea is to attack and get the three points.
“Sometimes there is opposition who are good as well and they prevent us these counter-attack situations and prevent us from keeping the ball a little bit more.
“It is a massive point for us according to the situation where we are but definitely we want to improve our level of performance in the future.”
The draw also acted as QPR’s first clean sheet of the season, a fact that was certainly not lost on Cifuentes.
“We said to the guys that this was important,” he added. “It was something that made us really strong last season and it has been a lot of mistakes, silly mistakes I would say, that we should prevent.
"Today it was much better and I am glad to have our first one of the season.”
Cifuentes also expanded on the recent injury woes experienced in W12, something which ultimately led to goalkeepers Joe Walsh and Nathan Shepperd both being named on the bench.
Defender Kenneth Paal and forward Michael Frey missed out on the trip to Turf Moor with thigh and calf injuries respectively, while Morgan Fox and Kader Dembele were late additions to the injury list.
“We knew that Michi Frey and Ken Paal would be out of this game but yesterday in training Morgan Fox and Kader Dembele both felt something,” Cifuentes said.
“The assessment was that we expected them both to be ready for this game but this morning we did some more tests and they were not ready.
“It was a difficult situation because usually we travel with 22 players – 19 outfield and three goalkeepers – just in case something happens with an outfield player or a keeper.
“In the end, we had to use the extra keeper as well on the bench because we could not get anyone up from London in time for the game.
“Sometimes adversity happens like this and you must overcome it.”
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