The Tykes went into the lead thanks to Iain Hume's fifth-minute effort as the visitors dominated the early stages at Loftus Road.

But QPR hit back with Hall latching on to two set-pieces to put his side in control at the interval. Hall should have completed his hat-trick but he failed to beat visiting goalkeeper Luke Steele with his second-half penalty.

Marciano Van Homoet was sent off late on for the visitors but it made little difference as the hosts held on with impressive debutant Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma controlling the midfield.

Peter Ramage, Kaspars Gorkss, Lee Cook, and on-loan Real Madrid youngster Daniel Parejo were all also handed full debuts by QPR boss Iain Dowie.

Barnsley manager Simon Davey, whose side hold more modest aspirations for the coming season than their wealthy hosts, gave debuts to Darren Moore, Mounir El Haimour and striker Hume.

Both sides had early chances with Jonathan Macken testing former Tottenham goalkeeper Radek Cerny before Mikele Leigertwood was denied by Steele at the other end.

Former Leicester striker Hume gave the Tykes a dream start as captain Brian Howard set him up to slot home from inside the area. The visitors looked to build on their early opener with El Haimour firing an effort over the bar before QPR's on-loan Genoa midfielder Ledesma forced Steele into making another save.

Argentinian Ledesma caused the visiting defence all sorts of problems with a free-kick which was slotted home from close range by Hall in the 29th minute.

Another set-piece, this time a Cook corner, just two minutes later allowed Hall to volley home a brilliant second and put the hosts into a lead they kept.

Barnsley boss Simon Davey said: "We had a fantastic start and we could maybe have scored one or two more. In the second half there was only one team in it. We took the game to them. QPR have spent a lot of money and I felt we not only had the lion's share, we were actually the better side."

QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Hall, Gorkss, Delaney, Agyemang (Parejo 72), Mahon, Leigertwood, Ledesma (Alberti 84), Cook, Blackstock. Unused substitutes: Camp, Connolly, Balanta.

Barnsley: Steele, Devaney, Moore, Foster, Hassell (Leon 85), De Silva, Howard, Van Homoet, Hume, Macken (Odejayi 85), El Haimour (Rigters 75). Unused substitutes: Kozluk, Mostto.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Fitz Hall.