ANY Burnley fan will tell you that supporting the club is a rollercoaster of highs and lows.

Moments of euphoria are so often followed by gut-wrenching disappointments.

So the Clarets fans who travelled to see their heroes at QPR last October probably feared the worst as they nursed the hangovers of that week's magnificent 3-1 Carling Cup win over a full-strength Aston Villa side.

Predictably, the London trip turned out to be the nadir of Steve Cotterill's first season in charge as Burnley suffered a severe case of capital punishment - losing 3-0 and losing injured goalkeeper Danny Coyne for three months in the process.

However, the Clarets boss takes great pride in the fact that Burnley's season did not come off the tracks following their heaviest league defeat of the campaign.

He admitted: "We had a bad, bad 25 minutes down there last October and I think that came on the back of beating Villa in the Carling Cup.

"We went there on cloud nine and all of a sudden we were three goals down and with a bad injury to Danny, so it ended up being a bad time.

"Until then we were in that game, even though we didn't start well. But we ended up getting a kick in the teeth and it would have been easy to cave in and been beaten heavily that day.

"We had to bring Brian Jensen off the bench and throw him into the fray after he hadn't played and it could easily have been 5-0 but for a few important saves, but we have come a long way and improved a lot since then."

The turnaround came instantly as Burnley bounced back to win their next Championship game at Leeds United (there goes that rollercoaster again!).

And soon it was four wins in five games as three single goal victories - all courtesy of Robbie Blake strikes - propelled Burnley up to eighth place in the league.

"We had a little bit of a run after losing to QPR, but the players have had a good spirit among them all season, even in defeat," explained Cotterill.

"They haven't lost that will and that has been vital because of the numbers we have been able to use this year.

"There have been better performances and certainly better results, but if we can spin that result at Loftus Road on its head tonight then I'm sure we'll all be delighted."

Recent performances, since it became clear Burnley were going in neither direction this summer, have been somewhat patchy.

Cotterill was again critical of his side's second half performance last Saturday, albeit against a Brighton side that, like Gillingham the week before, upped their game after the break to try to keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation.

And he insisted: "To be honest, what we have been trying to look for since Gillingham is a 90-minute performance.

"Once we've got that we will win games, but I don't know whether we will get that against QPR who, unlike Brighton, are not fighting for their lives.

"You can prepare a team and they can be absolutely 100 per cent up for a game and then, all of a sudden, something goes wrong.

"That's where you have to have strong characters who will keep believing and keep fighting and, last Saturday, we showed we still had a fighting spirit in us, even with so few games left."