QPR's Alex Baptiste has opened up on the difficulties of forging a makeshift QPR defence, saying the team are 'down to the bare bones'.

The defender was sent off after the final whistle in the Hoops defeat to Preston on Saturday, making Ian Holloway's selection dilemma even worse as he scrambles to select a fit side for Saturday's clash with Leeds.

However Baptiste is hoping the return the club's senior stars can solidify a shaky QPR defence.

Alex John-Baptiste looks to challenge Nico Yennaris

Speaking to GetWestLondon, he said: "When I first came we were doing really well and I was looking to see how I was going to get in, but it’s a squad game.

"We’ve had a lot of injuries at the back and we’re down to the bare bones at the minute, but people are coming back now and hopefully when they are back I can play well enough to keep my place in the team.

“The defence has done alright. Obviously you look back and there’s games and goals where we think we can do better but I think we’ve held our own.

"It’s hard because we don’t really know each other as players. There’s a lot of players who have been here for a long time and know how each other play, but we’ve been kind of thrown into things to see how we deal with it.

"We’ve done okay but there’s always room for improvement and that’s what we’re going to try and do."