MARTI Cifuentes still took plenty of positives for QPR from yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to promotion hopefuls Southampton.
The momentum of three straight victories has now been followed by no wins from the last three games, although the Hoops are still only two points from safety.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ 42nd minute strike was the difference at Loftus Road between QPR and the Saints, who finished the game with 10-men when Shea Charles collected a second yellow approaching stoppage time.
By then Chris Willock had already gone off injured and although unhappy with the result, the manager at least drew some inspiration from the overall display against a side recently relegated from the Premier League.
Cifuentes told QPR TV: “I’m disappointed because of the result.
“But at the same time, I think it is a day to congratulate the guys as well because we played at a very good level for many, many minutes against, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the league by far probably.
“It was a game with up and downs, definitely.
“Perhaps at the start of the game some moments in the beginning of the first half it was not really, really good because Southampton are very good at keeping the ball.
“We struggled a bit in finding the right triggers.
“Then slowly I think we grow quite a lot and when we were at our best probably in the last minutes of the first half, then we concede a set piece in a situation that we should learn from.
“We cannot concede a free-kick like this – that is a game changer.
“I don’t know if it is a free-kick or not but the reality is we went in down at half-time.”
QPR looked more lively after the interval, something which pleased the Spaniard.
Cifuentes added: “After that I think that we built a very good momentum in the first 20/25 minutes of the second half, the guys.
“That’s why I want to congratulate them.
“It is very easy to mentally switch off a little bit in a game like this and instead we pushed, together with the supporters, to build a very good momentum.
“Perhaps the injury of Chris Willock affected us a little bit.
“We lost a little bit of momentum and perhaps the way we managed the moment when they got the red card was not the best.
“At the end perhaps the feeling right now emotionally is frustrating, but I think over time we are going to see that we had a very good performance against a very good team.”
