PNE skipper Callum Davidson was dumbfounded as to how his side had let slip a two goal cushion for the second home game in succession.

Davidson slammed home a 56th minute penalty, a goal which looked to have secured all three points in what looked to be a comfortable game for Darren Ferguson's men. But QPR reduced the deficit and then grabbed an equaliser in what was a painful reminder of what had happened against Sheffield Wednesday a week or so ago.

"It's de'ja vu and not nice de'ja vu either," the North End captain said.

"We were 2-0 up and cruising again, not really under any great pressure and I don't really know what it is but it seems to have happened a lot this season. It happened at Middlesbrough, it happened at West Brom, Sheffield Wednesday and Forest, games where we look comfortable and then we just go and concede silly goals and we look all over the place."

The skipper said that the players could not put a finger on why they had thrown away the points, it being more a mental problem than a tactical one.

He said: "It's not nice, but the problem is that you can shout and you can argue and you can say as much as you want but if you knew what the answer was then you wouldn't be doing it.

"You can rant and rave and you bawl and shout but the most important thing for me is that you have all got to stick together, don't start to try and blame individuals and blame people for making mistakes and stuff and try and be there as a team and  stick together. It's frustrating, it really is, we should be well up the league at this moment in time after how the last five or six games have gone, but for me we are still sitting in the middle of a relegation battle, it's pretty difficult.

"It is mental at the moment. 2-0 up and they score straight away and you are thinking 'oh my goodness'. I think it is just composure, it's something that can't continue."

QPR's Moroccan midfielder Adel Taarabt was North End's second half tormentor, a frustrating point for Davidson who felt that they had kept the Spurs loanee under wraps for most of the first half.

"He was good, we probably dropped a bit deeper after they scored and allowed a bit more space for him to play. He is a good player but I think first half we dealt with him comfortably, second half we made the game too wide, too open and basically let them back into the game because he was the one who was pulling all the strings.

"You've got to give credit to QPR, the way they came back, they battled well, they basically stuck four strikers up front for the last half hour and just played that way and decided that we are not going to score any more goals. But you have got to get back into it and maybe we should have had a couple of really good chances."

Both sides had chances to win the game at 2-2 with the usually reliable Neil Mellor finding QPR keeper Carl Ikeme in fine form. Davidson was in support of his striker.

"I don't like being critical of the ground staff but the pitch wasn't great again but it's one of those things, it has not been the winter for it but with a better pitch Mellor would have scored that. He's the one in the whole team you want going through on a one-on-one, he's the one that normally sticks them away. But we can't blame him, you have got to look at the whole team and stick together."

There were some positives to take out of the game with Elliott Ward making a strong debut and Davidson is confident that with more players returning PNE will be ready to tackle next weekend's busy Easter schedule.

He said: "Elliott looks like a good acquisition, a big strong lad and he talks a lot as well, he'll be a good signing for us. We've got Youl coming back, Tommy Williams and Coutts will be back for the next game so we will have a full squad to pick from which will be important when we have a Saturday/Monday game.

"I am one of those who doesn't particularly like controlling games and drawing, I'd rather play rubbish and win. We do control games but we can't tell what has gone wrong, that's what we have got to sort out. We have got to get the ball in the right areas and doing the right things and we have got to continue that."