Matty Phillips missed a gilt-edged chance to level for QPR at home to Leicester just before half time – says team-mate Danny Simpson.
The winger was clean through but chipped over the bar, and Rs never got that close again.
They lost 1-0 as well as the unbeaten home record, but the interloping squirrel that held up play for five first-half minutes got it in the neck from the right-back.
A furry friend it was not as the rodent scampered around the pitch evading initial attempts to catch it before a clutch of players ushered it off in the corner.
Simpson said: “It kind of killed our form a bit, because at the time we had them on the back foot.
“We should have got it off a bit quicker, but if we’d hurt it in anyway, there would have been complaints. It was on TV so you know someone would have said something.
“Matty’s knows he should have done better. He doesn’t need me to tell him.
“I think he got caught in two minds whether to hit it first time with his right.
“But then he took a touch and the keeper closed him.
“Part of winning titles is how you bounce back, and that’s what we have to do at Forest on Boxing Day.”
