Mackie confident Rangers can secure the point necessary to keep them in the Premier League

Jamie Mackie insists QPR can defy their dismal away record to pick up a precious point at Manchester City on Sunday and secure their Premier League survival.

Rangers travel to the Etihad Stadium needing just a draw against Roberto Mancini’s title favourites to be absolutely certain of avoiding relegation back to the Championship.

However, the Rs have taken just two points from a possible 36 on their travels, and their appalling record of six consecutive away defeats stands as the worst in the league.

QPR’s last venture from Loftus Road ended with a 6-1 hammering to neighbours Chelsea, and only Sunday’s last-gasp home win against Stoke City kept them out of the bottom three.

Mackie believes staying up would represent a bigger achievement for the Rs than last season’s promotion, but recognises that they cannot afford another away-day nightmare.

“First and foremost we need to be really organised, solid and hard to break down, we have to be better than we were in our last away game, we know that,” Mackie told London24.com.

“It comes down to one game and we know that the prize at the end of it is massive so we’ll do everything in our power to try to get something.

“There was no time to dwell on what went wrong against Chelsea, we’ve tried to learn from what happened in that game. We have picked ourselves up and got a win at home against Stoke, and that was the most important thing.

“I’m not sure what’s been going wrong away from home but we need to put it right quickly because this is such a massive game.

“To stay in the Premier League would be a bigger achievement than getting there in the first place. I really believe if we can stay up this season then we can be a really good side.

“For a newly-promoted club it would be huge, and I think if we can do it we can really build on it next season.”

Follow me on Twitter @QPRTimes