QPR manager Ian Holloway has confirmed that he's now without "three cogs" in his team after suffering injuries midweek.
The Hoops were without Nedum Onuoha, Josh Scowen and Conor Washington for today's game, meaning he had to make a series of enforced changes to his team, leaving him feeling frustrated at the current state of the loan market.
Speaking after the game about Scowen's injury, Holloway said: "(Lee) Gregory got sent off for a challenge on him the other day, I was going to phone Gregory if I didn’t feel he did it. It was a little bit over-zealous so I didn’t ring him and that tackle kept him out. He got a red card so the referee obviously agreed with me, so Scowen was out, couldn’t recover.
"Nedum (Onuoha) has gone and ripped his hamstring off the bone, and he carried on playing up until half time.
"Everybody thought I was a genius taking off a centre half and bringing on a forward, but I had to bring him off because he had no hamstring left.
"Conor Washington was another volley in his calf from a defenders, it’s all in the game, I’m not complaining, and some new lads got a chance."
Holloway then praised his team for their display against Middlesbrough, but says he's at a disadvantage due to current rules regarding limitations on loan deals outside the designated transfer windows.
He said: "It was always going to be a big miss, right down the spine of my team I’ve lost three cogs, from my point of view.
"Luke Freeman played on just their when he was limping, and this is what’s wrong with the game at the moment; the window slams shut and I’ve got five defenders injured.
"The milk’s spilt but I’ve got no cream left, what am I going to have in my coffee? I’m going to have to have black coffee. That’s the game, that’s how mad it all is.
"You’ve got thousands of players around the country who would love be loaned out, and we can’t borrow one of them. How nonsensical is it? You don’t have to be a genius to work out that anyone with a lot of money is going to have a better chance at trying to get promoted because you can spend the money you might have got for going up, get relegated and have a better chance, realistically.”
