Preston North End head coach Frankie McAvoy said his side felt "hard done by" after two quick goals turned around a winning position and saw the Lilywhites lose 3-2 to Mark Warburton’s R’s.
Emil Riis’ eighth goal of the season had levelled up Lyndon Dykes' opener before the interval and then in the opening minute of the second half, Josh Earl’s first professional goal had put the visitors deservedly ahead.
However, two strikes within four minutes of each other from Jimmy Dunne and Ilias Chair put the home side back in front and despite their best efforts in torrential rain in West London, North End could not get something from the game..
Speaking to iFollow PNE following the final whistle, Frankie said: “I don’t think we deserved to lose at all. I’m very disappointed for the players, the backroom team and the supporters, who I thought were magnificent.
“I felt in the second half we were in control of the game, although QPR had their moments. I think it is a cheap free-kick that leads to their second goal and I was surprised that it was given – the lad Chair actually clips his own feet, but the referee sees it as a free-kick, which we should deal with at the back stick, but we felt a bit hard done by by that. And then we should probably defend better with the third goal, but we had our own chances.
“Emil scores a great goal and we had opportunities to make it three and when you don’t take those chances, they can come back to bite you.
“They probably had the better of the first half, but once we got the equaliser, we started to play the better football. They are a good team, the games are tough, but I feel we were hard done by today.
“We have to dust ourselves down; we have a break and I had hoped we would go into it with a win, but unfortunately it went the other way for us. We have to learn; try and be a bit more solid defensively – but sometimes losing players makes it difficult.”
Of those players lost, Ali McCann, on his first league start, looked the most serious: “Ali came in and got a bad knock on his ankle,” he continued. “Pat had a dead leg and couldn’t come out for the second half and that disrupts you a little bit, but Alan [Browne] came on and did well.
“I am bitterly disappointed we have lost the game 3-2. I don’t want to make any excuses, the officials are there to referee the games and they give it how they see it, but I felt today that we were comfortable at 2-1 up and that decision [to award the free-kick that led to the equaliser] was the defining moment and so I am disappointed.”
The Scot felt his side had the opportunities to put the game to bed at 2-1, but believed there were positives to take.
“We had a couple of great passages of play around their box [at 2-1], with Emil and Seani [Maguire] linking up well with DJ and we got Sepp [van den Berg] forward and Josh [Earl] forward as well and you could see that was our game plan.
“We took it to them in the second half and scored right away, which was good, and we had a sustained bit of pressure and you are hoping you can kill the game off. But coming to Queens Park Rangers, they are a good team as well and we just needed to be aware of transitions and getting caught on the counter and after they scored, the crowd got lifted and to concede so quickly after the second was hard to take.
“The conditions were difficult and Dan made a great save, but we didn’t defend the second and third phase after that.
“We are bitterly disappointed for the supporters and the players, because they give everything and if we keep playing like that, I don’t think there are any questions that we will pick up wins,” he added.
Frankie's full interview will be available to watch later this evening on iFollow PNE.