QPR 2 Doncaster Rovers 1: Dickov urges Rovers to ‘believe’ despite defeat

The striker, back in the team following a hamstring problem, headed in Danny Simpson’s right-wing cross in the dying moments to edge out struggling Doncaster.

It was tough on Doncaster, who caused them plenty of problems and led through Theo Robinson’s 43rd-minute opener before Matt Phillips equalised.

Phillips’s close-range finish ended Rangers’ three-match run without a goal and Austin completed the turnaround to take them back up to third in the table.

Doncaster boss Paul Dickov, who felt his team should have been awarded a second-half penalty for a foul on Richie Wellens, insisted they could take heart from their display.

Dickov said: “We’re all a bit deflated at the moment.

“We put in a fantastic performance from start to finish and lost the game.

“Never mind not getting a point, I felt we were unlucky not to get all three against the best team in the division.

“The football we played was top class and when we didn’t have the ball there was a real desire to press. I’ve got to give the players a lot of credit. We’re a bit down at the minute but we’ve got to take massive positives from this.

“It’s hard to take positives after a result like that, but we’ve shown we can really compete in this league, and I just want to keep the players believing.

“We have a good squad and if we keep performing like that we’ll be all right.”

QPR: Green, Simpson, Dunne, Onuoha, Assou-Ekotto, O’Neil, Barton, Benayoun (Johnson 46), Kranjcar (Traore 84), Hoilett (Phillips 13), Austin. Unused substitutes: Hill, Carroll, Henry, Murphy.

Doncaster Rovers: Turnbull, Wakefield, Quinn, McCullough, Stevens, Cotterill, Furman, Wellens, Duffy, Robinson (Brown 78), Macheda (Forrester 82). Unused substitutes: Maxted, Woods, De Val Fernandez, Bennett, Peterson.

Referee: G Scott (Oxfordshire).