Jamie Smith talked of the “massive blow” of today’s 4-1 defeat at QPR and of how we now face six cup finals to try to stay in the Championship.
The 4-1 reverse in London sees us seven points from safety with just those half a dozen matches remaining and Smith said afterwards: “It’s a massive blow but we keep working and keep fighting for every point. There’s no way this group of players will give up.
“There is a massive six games to go, six cup finals and we’ll keep fighting for every point that is available.”
We now have three successive home matches – against Swansea on Tuesday, followed by the visits of Bristol City and Blackburn, and Smith said: “We’ve really got to get at least seven points out of the nine from those three games.”
The QPR match stats showed we had 18 efforts, twice the number created by the home side, but six of their chances were on target compared to our two and Smith reflected: “We’re disappointed with the result and disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“I thought we had enough of the play to maybe get something out of the game. We got into their final third a lot but just couldn’t finish it off, which was a little bit disappointing.
“QPR were clinical in the final third and put away their chances.”
Commenting on QPR’s crucial second goal, a deflected effort that Joe Wildsmith might have done better with, Smith said: “We probably didn’t get out quickly enough to close the shot down and then it took a deflection past Joe. That made it difficult for the keeper.”
Smith also confirmed that manager Darren Moore is due back on the training ground on Monday after recovering from contracting Covid-19.