‘The biggest mistake we could make’ – QPR boss Cifuentes warns that Championship safety is not yet secure

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes believes there is still work to do before his side can be certain of their place in the Championship for next season.

Back-to-back wins over Easter weekend against Birmingham City and Swansea City has moved Rangers six points clear of the relegation zone with just six games left to play.

The west London club were six points from safety when Cifuentes arrived in October, but he is not yet ready to start celebrating a job well done.

“The biggest mistake we could make at this moment of the season is to think the job is done just because we got some decent results lately,” he said ahead of Saturday’s game against fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday.

“The guys know, the staff now. Everybody has been working hard but unfortunately 46 points will not be enough [to avoid relegation].

“The reality is there is still a lot of games to be played and we need to make sure that we perform well, starting on Saturday.”

QPR were beaten 2-1 at Hillsborough earlier this season courtesy of two late goals from the home side.

Wednesday’s hopes of avoiding relegation have been boosted since appointing Danny Rohl as head coach in the same month that Cifuentes arrived at Loftus Road, but they currently sit 23^rd in the league table, two points from safety.

Cifuentes is hoping his side can make up for their defeat in south Yorkshire and put further distance between themselves and the drop zone.

“One of the reasons that the Championship has perhaps been so interesting from a supporters’ point of view is that Sheffield Wednesday have done really well [since appointing Rohl] and we have done really well as well,” he said.

“Four months ago, it looked like three teams were going to League One and now there is a lot of teams involved in this [relegation battle].

“I would like to think that we have improved [since the defeat to Wednesday]. I like to think that we are a team that is conceding few goal chances per game, that we are defensively quite stable.

“I would like to think that we are more mature emotionally as well. A big part of this game was emotions… about having the feeling that the game was under control. When you are 1-0 up or even 2-0 up games can change really quickly here in England.

“In the 87th minute, Sam [Field] had a big chance to score the second goal and, in the same minute, we conceded from a counter-attack and then the game explodes.

“It was a very frustrating game but I think we learnt from that. It’s something that we need to keep in mind a little bit, even if it’s one per cent, a little bit of revenge from this game.”