QUEENS Park Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes said it was their “best performance of the season” after Jimmy Dunne scored an 89th-minute winner to beat Preston North End 2-1 at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Milutin Osmajic gave Preston a 21st-minute lead before Hoops captain Steve Cook was forced off three minutes later and replaced by Morgan Fox.
Rayan Kolli levelled five minutes after the interval and Liam Lindsay’s second yellow card reduced Paul Heckingbottom’s visitors to ten men with seven minutes left.
And with a minute remaining, Dunne headed home Ilias Chair’s cross as QPR extended their unbeaten run to seven games and moved up to fourteenth in the Championship.
The side were in last place in the table before their dramatic revival.
“For me it was our best performance of the season,” Cifuentes said.
“Starting the game so well – something that we had spoken about, because the last two first halves were not great – and then conceding a goal and losing our captain, that is something that can be mentally hard.
“The response, which was such a good performance, says a lot about the mentality of the group.
“I saw a lot of players performing at a high level, everybody contributed and that’s important.
“And we need more of that. The Christmas schedule is crazy and we need to be ready.”
QPR travel to Swansea City on Boxing Day and to Norwich City on Sunday for an earlier 12.30pm kick-off.
