'˜Not a bad foul in the game' fumes QPR boss Ian Holloway after two red cards in Preston defeat

Jamie Mackie’s 22nd minute red card for a late challenge on Tom Clarke meant it was a largely backs-to-the-walls display from the visitors.

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But their resistance was broken in the 88th minute by Jordan Hugill’s goal as Alex Neil’s men continued their recent upturn in form.

To make matters worse for QPR, former North End loanee Alex Baptiste received the second red card of the afternoon after the final whistle, seemingly for something he said to referee Jeremy Simpson, having only been booked for dissent a few minutes earlier.

“I’ll look at the one with Alex because he says he was speaking to his mate (PNE midfielder Ben Pearson) and he’ll probably be suspended now,” Holloway told getwestlondon.

“I don’t think that gave me any credence to go in and speak to the referee because now I’ve got two players sent off in a game where I didn’t even see a bad foul.

“He’d only just been booked for the first one because he bounced the ball down which is something I’ll have to talk to him about, but what he then said to a former team-mate, the referee is saying it was said to him. If he did say it to the referee, I can’t argue with that either, because you can’t do that.”

On Mackie, Holloway told QPR’s official website: “I felt Jamie went for the ball on a slippery pitch.

“How that is deemed as a deliberate stamp, I find it hard to believe.”