Neil Warnock said the high of beating Reading with ten men on Saturday would keep him awake at night, and he reserved special praise for Adel Taarabt and Jamie Mackie who wants to play for Scotland again next week:

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“We decided to go for it after the sending off. We attacked them with Jamie at right back and we played some splendid stuff in the second half. The lads were brilliant. They were so determined and we got the result we fully deserved.

“It’ll take until probably 11 o’clock tonight for me to come down from a game like that. I will probably take a sleeping tablet because I do get a little bit carried away. But I do feel very proud when I am manager of a team of ten men performing like that.

“Adel is such a likeable rogue and I love him. He does things that people pay to watch and I never thought he would be my kind of player. He is a talisman for us and when we get the best out of him he is a handful. You couldn’t take your eye off him. He needed three to stop him at one stage.”

“I learned from last season when QPR played Reading away and we had a man sent off. We went a bit negative then and got done in the last minute with a dodgy penalty. So I changed my mind today. I told them at half-time to have a go at them in the second half. I can see why the referee sent off Orr. In slow motion it looks harsh, but when he did it I thought ‘what are you doing?’ But if anything, it galvanised us.”

On his regular spot on Talksport on Sunday morning Warnock picked up on the theme of refereeing after another poor performance from an official at Loftus Road on Saturday. Warnock said: “I feel there has been a difference since Keith Hackett jacked it in. We’ve got Mike Riley, I’ve never been a big fan of his refereeing abilities. I’ve always thought Mike’s done well on limited ability to get where he’s got. He’s what I call a robot referee and now he’s in charge of our referee. When you look at the Alan Wileys of this world, Dermot Gallagher and people in that mould, the people who understand and taught the players I’m surprised that we’ve got someone who was a big stickler for the rules.

“You look at how Mike Riley refereed and I see a lot of these referees refereeing like him. Clive Thomas was on the other day with me and we were talking about the decisions, 17 rules, they want to apply them all but the 18th rule they never apply it, and that’s common sense. They’ve got to start using common sense.

“In those days you didn’t have assessors, you didn’t have everyone telling them how to referee and so consequently people like Howard Webb, they’re not bothered about the marks now because they’re top refs but these people try and impress assessors. Some of the assessors weren’t as good as the refs themselves that they’re teaching or talking about. I think outsiders, people that have played the game should actually go into and help them because it’s the footballing side of things they don’t understand it’s not the rules.”

Bradley Orr will now be suspended for the games against Portsmouth, Forest and Preston following his straight red card at the weekend.

After the game Tommy Smith, who scored his first ever Rangers goal to make it 3-1, praised the impact of man of the match Adel Taarabt. Smith told the Mirror: “With Adel it is all in his head. If he can play like that, then absolutely he will be one of the better players in the Premier League.It is about him working hard and being a team player. That is something that he has had instilled into his game since he signed under Neil Warnock. Once he gets that into his game then he will be worth a lot of money.”

Reading manager Brian McDermott said: “I knew what to expect here, he said. "Neil Warnock sets his team up and they have very physical players - and it was much the same as when he came to Madejski last season. But we had to match that. And I don't feel that we put them under enough pressure when they went down to ten men. We didn't get enough balls in the box, we didn't play enough football in their final third. So it's a bitterly disappointing day for me today.

“At 2-1 I thought we were going to get something. But they got a free kick - which wasn't a free kick - and scored the crucial goal. Even with five minutes left I still felt we could have taken something from the game. Brian Howard forced a great save from Paddy Kenny, Churchy had a great opportunity. And even at that stage, if we'd got it back to 3-2, anything could have happened. And they were fortunate to have ten men on the pitch - I've seen the challenge on Shane in the first 15 minutes and the centre half led with his elbow. But we've conceded six goals in two games now and you don't want to see that. We had a great record before that and we need to make sure that doesn't happen. “They've spent a lot of money here this season and Adel Taarabt was the difference between the sides. He's got amazing talent - I know that from his Tottenham days. They've made his skipper here and that shows what they think of him."

Rangers have another two matches to come this week, and following that several players will be away with their countries for the latest crucial round of international friendly games. Jamie Mackie told the Daily Record that he is desperate to be involved in Scotland’s friendly against the Faroe Islands at Aberdeen.

He said: “"It was the proudest day of my life in football when I found out I was in the Scotland squad. That was then surpassed when I played in Prague. My first thought was for my grandfather. He would have been more delighted than anyone. My grandad was born and brought up in Scotland but moved down to Surrey. He was a proud Scotsman and we were brought up to like the country. When the football or rugby was on TV he would be gunning for Scotland. He will want me to do well and I'm keen to build on my first cap. Hopefully, I'm not just a flash in the pan. I would hate to be involved in two or three squads then disappear. I'm extremely proud to be involved. I want to stay in the squad for eight or nine years. The friendly with the Faroes may give me the perfect chance to show what I'm about. I'd like to get my name on the scoresheet, get off the mark for Scotland. That's important to me.

"I'm delighted to be at QPR. We're doing fairly well just now and my aim is to play in the Premiership. It will take hard work as a team to get there and I'm prepared to graft in training to improve my game. I don't know anything about an interest from Everton. I'm just keeping my head down and grafting for QPR. This is a tough league to get out of and I don't want to be distracted. I see Blackpool and West Brom picking up good results in the Premiership and it gives me hope. That could be us next term and we would love to go up."

Loan Watch

Antonio German made a great start to life at Southend after signing a one month loan deal at Roots Hall on Friday. German scored Southend’s first goal from the penalty spot in a 2-2 draw at Macclesfield on Saturday – the winners of next week’s replay will face either Cambridge or Huddersfield in the next round.

Afterwards German reflected on opening his account, and taking part in the new signing ritual sing off, to the Southend Echo: “Any kind of goal is always good for your confidence and hopefully I can get a few more while I'm here to help the team. Playing games will be good for my fitness too so I'm looking forward to all the matches we have coming up because it's quite a busy time for us. Luckily my football is 100 per cent better than my singing. I didn't know anything about it until just before I had to get up and do it. I tried to play it safe by doing a bit of R Kelly but it wasn't the best. Thankfully the match went much better for me and I was really pleased to get the goal."

Angelo Balanta could potentially be thrust into the national spotlight if a dream FA Cup second round tie for the neutrals comes to fruition. Balanta was one of several MK Dons players to go close to breaking the deadlock in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Stevenage and the two sides will now replay. That all seemed very run of the mill until the second round draw on Sunday paired the Dons with AFC Wimbledon – the club that was formed by fans angry that the old Wimbledon side was allowed to move to MK Dons. Wimbledon must beat Ebbsfleet in their replay for it to happen and if they manage it this will be the first ever meeting of the two sworn enemies.

Mixed news from our two loanees at Torquay United. Both Joe Oastler and Ramone Rose played for the Gulls as they avoided an FA Cup First Round upset at Conference side Mansfield at the weekend. After the game Oastler extended his deal at Plainmoor into January, but Rose is now heading back to Loftus Road injured after taking a knock to his ankle midway through the first half. It’s a blow for Rose, who scored his first senior goal for Torquay last weekend.

Meanwhile Hayes and Yeading came within seconds of taking League Two side to a replay in the cup only for former QPR star Gareth Ainsworth to bundle home a 94th minute winner for the Chairboys. Lee Brown missed a late chance and Niki Lee Bulmer looked nervous as a second half substitute in goal according to the Uxbridge Gazette.

Bulmer had spoken on Friday of his keenness to learn his trade at Hayes, playing under veteran goalkeeper Lee Harrison. Bulmer told the Ealing Gazette: “I am just trying to get as many games under my belt as I can at a young age. At QPR there are a few goalkeepers ahead of me and as an up-and-coming goalkeeper I am not going to get games in the first-team, especially with the way that they are doing at the moment. I joined QPR when I was 16 and this is my third year, but my first year as a professional. I am contracted there until Christmas and on loan here until then. I will go back to QPR and see if they want to take me again, if they don't then I will have to make sure that I have made a name for myself to get another club.”

Former R’s

As well as Gareth Ainsworth there was success in the FA Cup at the weekend for former Loftus Road favourite Chris Day. The former Spurs keeper took up residence as a publican after dropping out of the Football League but is now back in the big time after helping Graham Westley’s Stevenage side win the Conference last season. Day kept a clean sheet as Stevenage held MK Dons to a 0-0 draw at the weekend.

Day told the PFA’s official website: “We have set ourselves very high standards and if we can stay in and around the top eight there could be possibilities of us having another successful season. But we won’t be getting carried away or starting to get over-confident – we’ll quietly carry on doing our jobs and try to keep getting good results. If we can continue to make progress there could be places up for grabs towards the top of the table.

“I know it took two and a bit years to get back but when I signed for Stevenage I knew I was joining a very good club. In fact, it is one of the best run clubs I have ever played for – it is a very professional outfit. There are a lot of good sides in that division and most of them are full-time.

“I have still got a lot of friends who are QPR fans and Neil Warnock is doing a great job – it would be fantastic to see them back in the Premier League.”

Championship Shorts

- Edgar Davids’ ill-fated return to professional football with Crystal Palace is over. The former Dutch international made a shock comeback after two years in retirement during the summer but struggled to adapt to the Championship and made a horrendous error in our 2-1 win at Selhurst Park in October. Davids has been released from his deal early at his own request.

- David Healy may have finally found himself some first team football, and got himself on the scoresheet in his first match for Doncaster at the weekend, but it hasn’t cut any ice with Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington who has left the striker out of the international squad to play Morocco later this month.

- Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers so Marvin Emnes will enter the club’s folklore after the on loan Middlesbrough striker scored the only goal in the South Wales derby against Cardiff on Sunday. Rodgers said: “It was a terrific goal, he'll obviously go down in folklore with Swans fans after that. He's shown great quality since he's been with us. His last game will be against Bristol City on Wednesday, he can't play against Middlesbrough. We'll take it from there, he's a player we'd love to keep here. He fits perfectly into our style and our identity as a team, and he's a good guy as well so we'll see what happens in the next week or so."

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