MAC’S LADS BOOST PLAY OFF HOOPS

STEVE MCCLAREN was quick to praise his QPR side’s professional approach as they made it three wins on the bounce.

The Hoops fired three goals past bottom club Ipswich to put themselves within two points of the play-offs.

This win followed impressive victories against Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest.

And the QPR boss said: “This was a tough game for the players mentally, but we just told them not to throw the results away.

“Be professional, do your job, keep a clean sheet and we’ll always have opportunities – and that’s what they did.

“Ipswich made it difficult for us as I knew they would. But I was impressed by the crowd as they had to be patient and we scored the goals at the right time.”

QPR took the lead when Nahki Wells pounced on a Jon Nolan blunder to let fly from 40 yards, forcing Dean Gerken to parry, but allowing Pawel Wszolek to follow up on 30 minutes.

Joel Lynch doubled the advantage four minutes later when he headed home a free-kick from Luke Freeman. And Wells made sure for the Hoops on 74 minutes when he turned and shot past static keeper Gerken.

Ipswich remain seven points from safety, but manager Paul Lambert refused to blame Nolan for his error.

He said: “He is playing well and I’ll never criticise somebody for trying to win the ball. I know what it’s like myself – there’s no player that doesn’t make a mistake.

“Performance wise we were dominating the ball for long spells, but we didn’t do enough in the final attacking third.”