Warburton unhappy with poor reaction to first goal as shot-shy Rangers lose tamely

Mark Warburton lamented his side’s failure to react to the setback of conceding a soft first-half penalty as Rangers slipped to a first home defeat of the season.

The Hoops started fairly brightly but were anemic overall against a purposeful Preston and could have few complaints about the 2-0 reverse in Wednesday night’s clash at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

Warburton’s men failed to get in a shot on target all night and were undone by two soft penalties – both given away by the experienced Lee Wallace.

“It was a big moment and I’m not sure why, because we were good for the first 20-25 minutes, and got bodies in the box,” said the QPR boss about the first penalty conceded midway through the first half.

“We dealt with them really well, we dealt with them comfortably, and then we created some good chances. We got men in behind. The first 20 minutes, I thought we were a good side and we looked good. I thought if we get the goal here, we are going to be in a great position.

“But there’s no excuses. We gave away a really soft penalty. The man on the ball was surrounded by four or five blue and white shirts. It shouldn’t happen, simple as that.

“It knocked the wind out of our sails and I’m not sure why. The reaction should be to roll up our sleeves up and we didn’t.

“We came in at half-time 1-0 down and had a few words but we gave away a second penalty where the ball’s travelled 80 yards in the air. We allowed the situation to happen and didn’t show enough quality.

“To lose in that manner, giving away two soft goals is very frustrating, because I can’t think the keeper’s really had saves to make. It was easily avoidable.”

A frustrated Warburton added: “We’ve dropped three valuable points. I felt the intensity dipped out of our game. We have to react better to a negative, win your duels, win your tackles, win your headers and then you earn your right to play. We didn’t do that enough tonight.”