Tony Mowbray says David Raya has slipped below last season’s standards which is why he was left out for the win at QPR.

And the boss has made no secret of his desire to bring in another goalkeeper during the summer to provide more competition.

Jayson Leutwiler was preferred between the sticks for the 2-1 win, though made a mistake for the Rangers goal when beaten to the ball by Matt Smith in injury time.

It was similar to the one conceded by 23-year-old Raya at Nottingham Forest last weekend, as Leutwiler was brought in for just a third league start since joining in the summer of 2017 from Shrewsbury.

Ironically, his last came in the win over QPR at Ewood Park in November, but he looked less than convincing in what was a rare start.

Explaining the decision, in what the only Rovers change, Mowbray said: “It was time to give the other goalkeeper a chance.

“I’m genuinely pretty faithful to my goalkeepers when they make mistakes along the way as he (Leutwiler) did for their goal.

“I sat David down this week and said that it was time for a change. If your No.2 goalkeeper never gets a game then when you need him you’re never going to know (about him) when the other one gets injured and he has to play.

“You have to have faith and confidence in him and trust him because he’s been on the pitch and that’s all that was, towards the end of the season giving him some game-time.”

Mowbray will now need to make the call on whether to recall Raya for Rovers’ home game with already relegated Bolton on Monday.

Rovers will be bidding for a fourth win in a row after taking their run to three with a 2-1 victory at Loftus Road courtesy of goals from Danny Graham and Bradley Dack.

On how Raya took the decision, Mowbray said: “Fine.

“David has dropped below the standards he set last season.

“This is his first full season at this level and I still feel as though he has lots to learn.

“He’s a fantastic young goalkeeper who is very agile, he’s a work in progress, and I don’t think it will do him any harm for him to sit on the bench and listen to some of my comments.

“Their goal, the modern day goalkeeper has to dominate his area and not just stay on his line and make saves, they have to come and catch things, distribute the ball quickly, be good with their feet.

“I’ve told both goalkeepers that it’s an area we’re looking to strengthen in the summer and create better competition.”

Smith’s late header denied Rovers the clean sheet their performance warranted, but Mowbray wasn’t overly nervy in the six added minutes.

He added: “If we had been scrambling for points then it might have been (nervy) but we’re not.

“We came to play, express ourselves, spread the play, and played with four attackers and I thought we did that.

“I thought we had the better chances, got in behind them, and I think the result was right.

“The players worked really hard, QPR gave us some problems with their directness, but we deserved to win and it was a nice one for the supporters.”