Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink defended his team selection but admitted QPR are fortunate to be in the second round of the EFL Cup after they beat Swindon on penalties at Loftus Road.
Rangers drew 2-2 with the League One side after extra time but prevailed when Nasser El Khatayi slotted home the winning penalty after keeper Matt Ingram had saved spot-kicks from Anton Rodgers and Bradley Barry.
French winger Yeni Ngbakoto had scored on his Rangers debut to put them ahead on 58 minutes, but the Robins hit back 14 minutes later with Jordan Stewart’s first senior goal.
Conor Washington made it 2-1 three minutes into extra time but, despite Lloyd Jones’ injury leaving Swindon with 10 men, they hauled themselves level again, this time courtesy of James Brophy’s 107th-minute strike.
R’s boss Hasselbaink said: “The only good thing I can take out of it is that we are in the hat for the next round. That really is the only plus I can take from that.
“They were sharper and better than us. Then won the second balls and although we had a few chances, we didn’t kill them off.
“We were not hungry enough for the second balls and we suffered, but we found a way to get through after we made trouble for ourselves.”
Hasselbaink made a number of changes for the tie, leaving out the likes of Steven Caulker and Jake Bidwell, while starting with Tjaronn Chery and Sebastian Polter on the bench.
“I had no choice. There’s another game, against Cardiff, on Sunday and I need other players to play minutes as well,” Hasselbaink insisted.
“After Sunday there are six more games in a short space of time and the squad has got to play. I need to make sure that these other players are as fit as possible.
“We still need more players – we are looking – so that we can make the squad more competitive.”
This post was last modified on 11/08/2016
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I wouldn't moan if a player got injured. I think we should take the competition seriously, that's all.
Harsh, Peter.
We play 3 games in 8 days. If you want our best players to get injured then play them for 90 mins in this game then send them back out again on Sunday.
Then we can wait for you to moan about the players getting injured causing us to lose games and drop down the table.
I was happy with the result last night. Winning breeds confidence and we need some of that after recent starts to the season we have made.
Same old excuses. I've been to enough of these first round League Cup games in recent years to know how it pans out, which is why I didn't put myself through the torture this year. The only difference this time is that we actually, eventually, went through against the lower league team. Usually we lose, either in normal time or on penalties. The truth is the club doesn't treat the competition with any importance: they put out a second string team against a lower league club who actually view the game as more than a run-out for players not currently in the first team eleven. Why does our club have this attitude? Because we can't have anything even possibly interfering with our chances of returning to the promised land of the Premier League. And who suffers? The fans, of course, especially the ones who go to the game. Their only real inducement to go to these games is the reduced ticket prices. It's still a wasted evening. It really would be nice to go to a League Cup tie where you knew the club were taking seriously the only major competition that they have actually won. Do we still live in hope?