QPR defender James Perch says that the team's collapse against Middlesbrough showcased a lack of confidence in the camp.
The Hoops lost their way after a promising opening period, and the defender says the team struggled.
Perch said: "When you’re a team who haven’t done great all season, which we haven’t because we all know we could have done better overall, when a goal goes in it does knock the stuffing out of you and it definitely looked like that last week.
"If we’d have had a good season we’d have conceded and gone again to get back into the game, but when the goal went in we let it slip."
The fixtures don't get any easier for the Hoops as they prepare to face Carabao Cup semi-finalists Bristol City this afternoon, and Perch says confidence will be sky high at Ashton Gate.
He said: “It’s going to be a tough game.
They’re a strong team; even last season they did well against us at their place. They’ve got a good squad which they’ve had for a few years now and that shows.
They’ve had such a good season this year under the manager, Lee Johnson. Having a good cup run can help you in the league, I had it when I was at Wigan, and they’ll take confidence from what they’ve done against the top teams in the cup and they’ll look to do it against the teams in the Championship, so we know we’re in for a tough game.
Asked whether it was the best possible time to face the Robins, Perch said: “I think so.
"When we played them a few weeks ago it was a great time to play them after they beat Manchester United, because they were on such a high and they had to get back down to earth three days later to come to our place and play, so this is a pretty similar situation.
"They played really well against Manchester City over two legs and will be disappointed they didn’t get through, but they’ve had a few days to turn around and face a tough team in ourselves, who aren’t going to give them an easy time.
"Now that the cup run is out of the way they’re going to be looking to get back to winning ways in the league. They want to get promoted so they’re going to have to find their form sharp-ish, and we’ve got to be wary of them.
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"Their sole focus is to get promoted and they’re going to want to beat us to set them on their way."
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