It would have been a travesty if we hadn't gone through

Last updated : 14 January 2009 By Tony Scholes
There are a select few managers around who you can't quite believe after a game. Dave Jones of Cardiff always springs to mind, but I had to admit to being amazed when I heard that QPR boss Paulo Sousa actually thought his side deserved anything other than a defeat last night.

But he did, and this is what he had to say: "I'm proud of my players. Of course I wanted to win the game. Playing in the way we did, it was unfair we lost. We played very well. Tactically we were first class and we dominated.

"Once again we created everything to win the match, but once again we were unlucky. I believe in my players and it is coming. If we continue to build these chances we will reach where I want to be and will pick up wins.

"My team played very, very well and I am proud of each and every one of them, I am just sorry we couldn't give our travelling fans the victory we deserved."

He added: "If we play to this quality I have no doubts that an away victory is coming. Our next two games are away and if we play like this then we will pick up points."

Owen Coyle also thought his side deserved to win, the differences being that Owen Coyle's side really did deserve to win and Owen Coyle's side did win.

"For me it would have been a travesty if we hadn't gone through in that cup tie tonight," he said after the final whistle. Before the game I told the lads, let's go and try to have an FA Cup run similar to the Carling Cup exploits and I am absolutely delighted with the effort and energy.

"We know we can play better but I was delighted with the effort even though everything that could go against us did. Martin Paterson was injured in the warm up and I couldn't take a chance of aggravating his injury, so Robbie Blake took his place.

"Then Chris McCann got injured early on and we had to reshuffle again. But over the piece we dominated and you cannot legislate for the mistake for the goal we conceded. But I cannot praise the character and desire to get back into the game.

"Brian Jensen made a great save in extra time, but for me that would have been an injustice because I thought we were well worth the victory."

Coyle continued: "That is 35 games we've played this season and I think there are only sixteen players that have started more than one game. Russell Anderson is one of them so that shows the amount of games they have played, but their courage and bravery knows no bounds."

The manager always had words of praise for the two young players who came on, the winning goalscorer Jay Rodriguez and Alex MacDonald. "Jay's a goalscorer," he said. "There is a still a lot of room for improvement, but Jay is only a kid and it is great to get him and Alex MacDonald match time. They were there on merit and that's the energy and youth that will help us at the moment.

"I have tried to bolster the squad to give us that freshness, but that costs money. We don't have anything in terms of fees to be paying, but we have tried a couple of loans and we will continue to try. But if the same group of players have to go again, they we will re-shuffle accordingly."