Cifuentes ‘proud’ of QPR display in Sheffield United defeat

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes was pleased with what he saw from his players in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to promotion-chasing Sheffield United.

Chris Wilder’s side scored with their only two shots on target throughout the 90 minutes as Ben Brereton Diaz and Tyrese Campbell struck, meaning Michael Frey’s second-half penalty was not enough to earn a point for Rangers.

The west Londoners had the better of the play for much of the contest, and were only denied a draw at the very least by Michael Cooper in the visitors’ goal.

“Football is a game of mistakes and accuracy,” Cifuentes assessed. “It doesn’t matter if you create 20 chances if you’re not able to score. It doesn’t matter. If you create two chances and then score two, you have a lot of possibilities to win the game.

“I feel very proud of my players today, so I don’t want to speak about quality difference or whatever because it felt like we were very dominant for many moments of the game.

“We created a lot of situations [to score] and we really pushed a team that is playing at a really high level and is pushing to get promoted.

“When you look at their winter signings, it shows their financial strength, but that’s it. On the pitch I felt that my players did really well and apart from the two goals and a chance at the end when we were pushing there was not a lot of work for Paul [Nardi, QPR goalkeeper].

“It was the opposite; Cooper made some very good saves and for many minutes in the game we pushed them.

“I feel disappointed about the result. It’s not a consolation that we played well against a good team because we’re here to win football games no matter what, but when I look back and analyse the game, I think we certainly performed at a high level.”

PICTURE: ALAMY