Neil Warnock was delighted with the way his side battled back to win an unlikely point at Derby on Saturday, but still intends to add firepower to his line up on transfer deadline day with five strikers linked to QPR.

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In his post match press conference he said: "All credit to the players - that was Dunkirk spirit in every sense of the word. We were very positive with the substitutions and it had the impact I hoped it would. It was a great team effort at the end, even though we were nowhere near our best. It feels like a win when it comes so late in the game.

"How we can be amongst the favorites to win the division with eight new players in the squad is beyond me. I think we're sixth to tenth position at the moment. Results like that will help the morale and the confidence within the group. We never had any of that spirit with all the loan players last year, but we have now and that's fantastic."

Clint Hill took the opportunity to praise Warnock's impact at Loftus Road after the game, although eh admitted QPR were lucky to escape Pride Park with a point.

Hill told The Mirror: "That’s what he brings to a club, a really good team spirit. He got everyone really close together at Palace and we reached the play-offs. Then unfortunately the money was pulled out, circumstances changed, and it became an uphill battle. The lads he’s signed and those who were already here have really gelled together and it shows on the pitch. It’s never-say-die right up until the last minute. "If we are being honest, we have no idea how we managed to get away with a point. That was the worst we have played this season – we just weren’t at the races. But when you’ve got players of the quality we have got you always feel you are still in with a shout no matter what and when Jamie pulled out that shot right at the end it felt like a win. It proved the game is cruel and we know we have got to play better . We are top at the moment but we know it’s going to be a tough old battle to stay there and there are going to be ups and downs. It’s a great start but we are not getting carried away. We are asking ourselves – can we build on it?’’

The Derby players were understandably downbeat after the game. Captain Robbie Savage, perhaps regretting his second half baiting of the away end at 2-0 up, said: ‘‘I suppose we were a little naive attacking in the 90th minute and we left Agyemang one-on-one to pull a goal back. After that we knew it was going to be a tough few minutes.’’

Chris Commons said: "It was frustrating for us after being in such a commanding position. It was our errors which led to their goals – missed tackles and misplaced passes. But we will regroup. We’ve got players missing, new signings and others who have come in from the lower leagues. It’s a learning curve, but the more games they play the better we will become. We just need to stay positive."

Derby boss Nigel Clough said: "It's frustrating. We played so well for so long and then we got punished at the end but that's been the story of the last three league game. There have been three good performances but we've not quite got our reward for them. I thought that we should have finished it off and made it 3-1 in stoppage time but, at the moment, we can't finish games off and we can't quite hang on at the other end. They are going to have a few days in Spain so that will help them to get over this It would have been nice to go into the break with three points but I think that when we sit down and analyse it and put it into context the performance and the effort that has gone in was absolutely magnificent."

Finally Italian flop Alessandro Pellicori has finally returned to his homeland this week, though again it is only a loan move. Pellicori, one goal in ten appearances since signing from Avellino on a ridiculous three year contract, spent the second half of last season on loan at Mantova and will spend this campaign playing for Torino in Serie B. He will however return to Loftus Road next summer, with yet another year still left to run on his deal.

Rumours

The transfer window closes on Tuesday evening with QPR still chasing the elusive strikers that have been Neil Warnock's priority all summer. As it stands, with 24 hours to go, the R's are being heavily linked with five names. The Fulham Chronicle says Rangers are eyeing up Fulham's out of favour American striker Eddie Johnson who endured a tough time while on loan in this division with Cardiff the season before last - scoring only twice in seven starts and 26 sub appearances.

The Daily Mail says the R's have returned to Portsmouth with a £1.5m offer for Tommy Smith. Rumours were rife at Pride Park on Saturday, and have since been reported in the Derby Telegraph that the Rams' 30-year-old striker Rob Hulse is set to sign for Rangers. Hulse, signed by Neil Warnock at Sheffield United, has been much sought after in recent years with Middlesbrough having a £4m bid rejected last season but he has struggled with injury as well and has been out of action since scoring in an opening day win at Leeds this season.

And of course the omnipresent stories about Jason Roberts at Blackburn and Dave Kitson at Stoke continue to do the rounds. There may be more movement than usual on deadline day with Premiership sides forced to name their 25 man squads for the league season thereby freeing up the likes of Kitson, Roberts and Johnson if they are not selected by their respective managers.

Post Derby Neil Warnock said: "I've got four strikers and three wide players on my list and I'd like one of each. We just need a couple more to add to the options we've got."

Former R's

Ipswich striker Tamas Priskin may finally be rediscovering the form that saw the Tractor Boys spend £1.6m to bring him to Portman Road from Watford last summer. After a dire first season with Town, and an equally poor loan spell with QPR, Priskin has now scored twice this season including a tidy finish in a 2-0 home win against Bristol City on Saturday. After the game Priskin said: "Maybe it was my best game for Ipswich. I scored my first home goal, so I’m very pleased today, but I think the team did really well as well, especially in the second half. I started the first half on the left and in the second went to the middle. It was a bit better, I scored a goal, Jason scored a great goal as well and we won the game, so I’m really happy.

“I was here from the start of pre-season, I played a few games with the team in pre-season as well, so it was a bit easier this season. I’ve scored a few chances, I’ve started in the team and hopefully I’m going to stay in the team. I think we have had a good start and after four games we’ve got 10 points which is very good, so hopefully we’re going to continue like this. The most important thing was getting three points after the first game. Last season it was a bit harder because I think we got the first win after 15 games, this year we got it after the first and I think the team got confidence. The spirit is very good around the team and I hope it’s going to stay like this.”

Championship Shorts

- New Bristol City striker Jon Stead was bitterley disappointed to lose 2-0 on his return to Ipswich at the weekend and wasn't shy of heaping blame on former England goalkeeper David James who made bad errors for both Town goals. Stead said: "It is massively disappointing the way the game turned out in the end. Mistakes have cost us and after competing for so long it’s very, very disappointing. We competed for about 60 minutes and then we self-destructed. Now we have two weeks to work on things and we need to pick ourselves up. It’s still very early in the season and we don’t want today’s result or the way we lost to affect us in any more games this season. Obviously he’s been around and he knows when he should have done things a little bit differently and a little bit better. For the first goal we should have dealt with it earlier, before it got to him. There’s a slight blame with Jamo coming out and shouting for it. These are little mistakes that we need to tighten up on. He’s been around the block a bit and he knows when he should be doing things right. The backpass shouldn’t have got to him and we should have cut it out at source. We caused our own problems so there’s no massive blame on Jamo.”

- Norwich defender Russell Martin has accused Nottingham Forest winger Paul Anderson of cheating in their game at the weekend. Forest were denied a penalty in the second half by referee Scott Mathieson, then awarded one a short time later when Anderson hit the deck under Martin's challenge. The Norwich man said: "For me it's cheating. It's not even gamesmanship. He touched the ball and dived. There's no contact. It's got to be stamped out of the game, If I'd made a bit of contact and he'd gone down easily, that's fair play, gamesmanship to me, but when there's no contact at all? He's touched the ball, it's gone five yards, and he dived into me. You could call that gamesmanship, but not for me."

- Reading's poor start to the season could be set to get a lot worse with last season's player of the year and top scorer Gylfi Sigurdsson linked with a deadline day move to German side Hoffenheim by the press in his native Iceland.

- Reading did at least manage to get a win under their belts on Saturday, against fellow slow starters Leicester City. Pressure is already mounting on new manager Paulo Sousa but the former QPR boss hopes to be very active in the final day of the transfer window tomorrow. DJ Campbell is being linked with a £1.5m move to Blackpool while Martyn Waghorn, Sean St Ledger and Phil Bardsley have all been linked with moves to the Walkers' Stadium.

LFW will carry a full list of the deadline day deals done by Championship clubs in the news round up on Tuesday evening, and in depth analysis of the comings and goings will appear in the This Week article on Wednesday.

Photo: Action Images

DublinQPR74 added 23:24 - Aug 30 Thanks for the excellent read as ever Clive. Sounds like there's a nice spirit in the Bristol City dressing room. Roll on Super Tuesday.
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French_Hoops added 09:07 - Aug 31 I've read somewhere that Matty Fryatt could make the switch from Leicester to Reading but actually I really wouldn't mind to see him wearing the real Hoops shirt! I guess we'll have our answers by tonight...
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