FRUSTRATED Queens Park Rangers manager Ian Holloway accused his players of wasting the first half as they slumped to their 11th away defeat of the season at Turf Moor.

Holloway is still waiting for his first win since taking over as Loftus Road boss last month and lambasted his relegation-threatened side for allowing Burnley to forge into a 2-0 interval lead.

He said: "We wasted 45 minutes. We were second best to every challenge. We created the better chances over the game but they had bigger hearts and more passion than we did and that's unacceptable.

"In the second half we showed it but why did we have to leave it until then?

"We created one or two chances but football is all about putting a challenge on an individual basis. You could say it was bad luck but I don't think it is. In the first half we were too nice to play against.

"We left it to half-time for me to say things they should be saying themselves. There were enough senior professionals out there."

Rangers twice hit the woodwork and carved out a succession of chances. However, they failed to test Clarets keeper Nik Michopoulos and then took off dangerman Peter Crouch with 16 minutes to go.

"Maybe in hindsight I should have left him on but I can't believe we didn't take any of those chances. We deserved at least a draw, even after wasting the first 45 minutes," said Holloway, who's only reward was a 54th-minute goal from Marcus Bignot. Rangers, second from bottom of the table, piled on the pressure late on and the boss felt they should have been given a potential point-saving spot-kick a minute from time when Graham Branch pulled down Michel Ngonge.

"I felt it definitely looked like a penalty. Perhaps I'm clutching at straws but I thought Michel knocked it past him and would have got there so I thought it was a penalty," added Holloway.