Cifuentes lays down a formula for progress as he casts ahead to QPR future

Mindful moments from Marti Cifuentes, post-match : Picture by @YTJournp

Marti Cifuentes believes 50 points should be enough to make his team safe from the drop, but says he won't be counting his chickens or looking ahead to next season just yet.

But at the same time, the Hoops boss admits he is thinking about what it might take to improve on this year's far more comfortable showing in the Championship than last year.

And if there is one mantra that we can expect to hear more of ahead of the next campaign for QPR, it is going to be : 'We must find an edge'

The R's were outstanding for 25 minutes against play-off hopefuls Bristol City on Saturday and ought to have cashed in more than once. As it was, they had to settle for a very creditable 1-1 draw after West Ham loanee George Earthy cancelled out Kader Dembele's headed opener.

"Financial gaps between teams are great, with some big budgets, but every club has to find an edge and we need to find our edge - our winning edge," said the QPR boss.

"I'm sure that this club, with the history that we have, a London club with a fantastic training ground, we have the possibility to find our edge.

"Having said that, it's a very competitive league. It's a ruthless league. You cannot make a lot of mistakes because you get punished easily and then you get in bad trends, as we did this season. I'm committed to try and give our fans what they are dreaming of and deserve, but it's not easy."

Cifuentes continued: "We have four games left and we need to keep pushing. Big credit to the players for the shift they made in a difficult week for us to finish a week like this with five points and three decent performances.

"The first 25 minutes was perhaps the best start of the season here at home. I really enjoyed the expression of the team - the identity that we showed, playing attacking football and creating chances. This is what we like to see.

"Unless I'm very bad at maths, there's still a possibility to go down. It's not done yet, though the reality is that 50 points give safety almost every season to all the other teams. It looks good at the moment. I think it should be a lot of things going wrong for us [to go down]."

The Spaniard added: "At the end of the season is the moment to do the balance and assess to see what we have done well, what we got wrong and where we could do better. I give more value to what this team has achieved this season than last season.

"Last season was big. It was a very big effort from everyone to escape from relegation, but I think that what this group has been through this season it's been considerably more tough, 100 per cent.

"They are an honest group. We have been through a lot of difficult moments this season, but together with the fans, we have almost done it."