Cifuentes warns QPR that they are not safe yet despite crucial Preston win

Marti Cifuentes is not yet ready to celebrate a job well done in QPR’s battle to avoid relegation from the Championship.

A 1-0 win against Preston North End at Loftus Road today moved Rangers six points clear of the relegation zone with most of their relegation rivals having only two games left to play.

The west London club were six points from safety when Cifuentes arrived as head coach in October, and he is insisting that his side stay motivated until the final day of the campaign.

“Right now it looks like a big step forward but again, no matter what happens in the next games [for other teams], the kind of mindset and winning culture we need to create in this club is that we are going to try and win until the last game of the season,” he said.

 “My mindset today is that we took a big step forward in the right direction, but the job is not done until it is done.

“We need to go into the other two games and not look at the other ones [teams] because that has been the mindset since day one.

“Even if there is nothing to play for in the last game, which I hope so, the mindset will be to win and be competitive and then when we take holidays it will be time to relax and I will not chase the guys anymore, I will not send them clips, but until that day we will work.”

Despite knowing the results of QPR’s relegation rivals earlier in the afternoon, including a 4-0 defeat for Huddersfield Town against Swansea City, Cifuentes said he encouraged his players not to concentrate on other results ahead of their kick-off against Preston.

Rangers put in a controlled performance against Ryan Lowe’s side, conceding just two shots on target and passing up a number of opportunities to makes the scoreline more comfortable.

“Usually we have many games on the TV while we have lunch, the players have Championship games on,” Cifuentes explained.

“This weekend we decided we should focus on ourselves. We were not focused so much on what other teams were doing but focusing on ourselves.

 “I said yesterday that 47 points would not be enough [to stay up] so no matter what other results were we had to win this game. I think the focus was excellent.

 “I think we could have had the second goal or even a third one and I know that in the Championship, even if you take a good lead, it is not over until the ref whistles.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS