I'VE GOT TO DELIVER TOP RESULTS FOR POSTMAN!'

QPR’s long-suffering fanbase don’t need to worry about centre-back Jimmy Dunne being out of touch with supporters. He sees one every morning.

- Chris Dunlavy

“My postman’s a QPR fan,” laughs the 26-year-old Irishman, who, pre-weekend, had made 96 appearances in all competitions since joining the Hoops from Burnley in 2021.

“He wears his hat every matchday. The other day I was out and about, going to get a coffee or whatever. He spotted me and it was ‘Jimmy this, Jimmy that’, fingers pointing, ra, ra, ra. He doesn’t spare me if we’ve had a bad result.

“Two or three days later we got a win, did alright and he was all full of praise when he delivered the post.

“Then a week or two later we lose to Sheffield Wednesday and it’s back to slamming and blasting again. I’m like ‘Oh god, here he comes’.

“But, fair play, you know? I can feel his pain. I understand what it’s like. I know people complain about fans being negative and all that but it’s their club, their life - they’re invested in it and they’ve every right to be disappointed when their team is in the position we’re in.”

That QPR are uncomfortably poised is undeniable. Having scraped to survival under Gareth Ainsworth last term, the Hoops were widely tipped for relegation amidst crippling FFP restrictions and duly lived down to their billing by losing 11 of their first 17 matches. Yet the Championship relegation zone may not be their residence for much longer.

Since replacing club legend Ainsworth with unheralded Spaniard Marti Cifuentes at the end of October, the Hoops had shot from 24th to ninth in the Championship form table heading into the weekend.

Last weekend’s last-gasp loss to Sheffield Wednesday was their first defeat in five matches, while a hat-trick of wins over Stoke, Preston and Hull marked the first time since Michael Beale’s brief tenure that QPR had notched three successive victories.