Neil Warnock hailed the instant impact of a not fully fit Charlie Austin after he ended their goal drought with the winner in QPR's 1-0 win over Leeds.

Warnock revealed his talismanic-striker was never going to play more than half an hour maximum on his return from a calf injury.

Fortunately, the England man needed just two minutes after coming of the bench to break the deadlock, ending Rangers' goal drought stretching back some 420 minutes and only a world-class save from United keeper Marco Silvestri denied him a second later on.

"Charlie has been chomping at the bit, but we knew we would only get 30 minutes out of him today," said Warnock.

"So we did not warm him up before the game, we waited until half time and then gave him another 15 minutes.

"But I always thought we were going to create chances for him and it was a great save to stop his other header as well."

While Austin's heroics stole the headlines Warnock was keen to underline the efforts of others in securing the first win of his spell as QPR caretaker.

BacK: Charlie Austin

"The two centre halves (Nedum Onuoha) and Grant Hall) were as good as I have seen at this level, the full-backs did well too and the two in midfield.

"We gave Sandro a round of applause in the dressing room because he lasted 90 minutes which was a unique situation for us all. I though him and Alejandro (Faurlin) were fabulous."

Whether Warnock will get a chance to preside over another win at Reading on Thursday is anyone's guess with still no firm news on a permanent appointment.

"I'm not involved in the process of the new manager, he added.

"All I'm concentrating on is getting the best out of what I've got and trying to put the smiles and the oohs and ahs back among the fans."