After last night's disappointing defeat to Rotherham, there is now no doubt that Queens Park Rangers have a serious relegation battle on their hands.

Victory over the Millers last night would have seen the Rs extend the lead over their opponents and the drop zone to 13 points with nine matches left to play, leaving them in a position to finish the season strongly.

However, a series of underwhelming performances and disappointing results, culminating in the defeat at Loftus Road last night, mean that Steve McClaren's side now find themselves 18th in the Championship table, just seven points above the drop zone.

Rangers have now lost nine of their last eleven Championship games and are left anxiously looking over their shoulder, with Millwall picking up a much-needed win over Birmingham last night.

QPR's home form has simply not been good enough over the past few weeks and this is one of the reasons why they have been dragged into a fight for survival.

Furthermore, both last night and against 10-man Stoke City at the weekend, McClaren's side have shot themselves in the foot by playing to their opponents' strengths.

Despite the obvious need to keep the ball on the floor last night and at the weekend against the Potters, there was nowhere near enough football on show from a group of players who appear to be severely lacking in confidence.

Not only did they fail to create enough chances, despite Rotherham's obvious threat from set-pieces the R's conceded far too many fouls in dangerous areas.

After presenting the visitors with chance after chance to score from dead-ball situations, the players repeatedly failed to learn from their mistakes and were eventually punished when Semi Ajayi scored with a header from a free-kick deep into stoppage-time.

Another worrying sign for QPR fans over recent weeks is that their side have often failed to score the first goal, this has often led to tense and nervy second-half displays which have more often than not ended up going the way of the opposition.

Rs fans will be hoping to see these issues addressed when their side travel to Hull City this weekend, in a match which has been made even more important due to the result last night.