Marti Cifuentes: Better – but not good enough says QPR boss

Queens Park Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes felt his players responded to his pre-match call for an improved performance with a goalless draw against Cardiff City.

Following their dismal recent run, Rangers shared the points with relegation-threatend Cardiff.

Cifuentes’ side is still in danger of dropping into the relegation zone, with just five points separating the two sides in this Championship encounter.

After the match, the Spaniard insisted that he was pleased with the reaction of his squad following on from their previous league game, a 3-1 defeat against Stoke City.

INTENT: Cifuentes

Intent

He said: “I know that perhaps some people will not agree with me because of the result and, especially after the game, all of us are going to be very emotional, but I think that the response was there – the intent is there.”

Paul Smyth had an early effort on goal for the R’s, but they faded after the interval and in the end seemed grateful to take a point.

Cifuentes said: “We were not good enough today to win.

“I need to look at myself in the mirror and ask what I could have done better.

“But the reality is that these players are trying.

“I cannot say that these guys are not running and are not putting all their effort into trying to get us in the position at the end of the season that we want.

“This was a very important game.

“I felt in the first half we were a bit more dominant, and in the second half they started better than us and it was more difficult.

“I will never be happy with a draw but I value the effort that the guys made.”