A ‘moment of quality’ from Ilias Chair helped QPR see off the ‘stubborn’ resistance of Rovers.

That was the view of Mark Warburton who saw his side move into the top six with the 1-0 win at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

Rovers were within seven minutes of holding out for a point and stopping free-scoring Rangers from finding the net for the first time this season, only for Chair to take advantage of the space afforded to him and curl home the winner.

Tony Mowbray said he set his side up to frustrate the hosts who, going into the game, had the second highest number of goals in the division, but also the second leakiest defence.

On the game, Warbuton said: “Blackburn are a stubborn team. Obviously they have a lot of physicality, they are a tough team, so we knew we had to be patient. That bit of quality from Ilias Chair to get the goal and then to see the game out with a clean sheet was really pleasing.

“Ilias had that moment of quality and he executed it superbly to give us the win.”

Both managers opted to make four changes to their side, and Warburton says that is reflective of the schedule facing second tier sides.

He added: “They are a good squad. Tony made changes, I think because of the run of games teams are facing. We keep talking about this but I think sometimes you have to change it to add some energy and add some legs.

“You saw that with Tony and Blackburn, they are a very strong squad. But there are a lot of demands on the squads and the rotation of Rothwell and Dolan highlighted that once again.

“Blackburn are hard to beat and with a win against us they could have gone above us so this was a big win.”