Ian Holloway believes Queens Park Rangers should have got something out of their trip to Aston Villa instead of returning south with a 1-0 loss.

Jonathan Kodjia’s fifth-minute goal was all that separated the teams at Villa Park.

It was the striker’s seventh goal in seven games and Villa’s fourth successive win and has lifted the Birmingham side into the top half of the Sky Bet Championship table.

For QPR though it was their second consecutive 1-0 loss, following Friday’s reverse at Derby County, and has seen them drop to 16th.

But the Rangers gaffer, while disappointed with the immediate reaction to the goal, was proud with the way his side performed for the majority of the game.

“I’m proud of the boys,” Holloway told www.qpr.co.uk.

“They scored a really good goal early on and we didn’t cope with their movement.

“But after that we grew into things and in the second half we got better and better.

“We just couldn’t get the equaliser we deserved but I can’t fault our performance.

“The switch of tactics, going 4-2-3-1, really gave us the impetus.

“We started to make it happen after that and that’s why we came stronger and stronger as the game went on.

“We did everything we could do. We just couldn’t break them down [and] just ran out of time in the end.

“The togetherness of my side we there for all to see. I’m just disappointed our performance didn’t get the result we deserved.”

Holloway also broke with his usual practice to praise Massimo Luongo’s display.

“I don’t like singling out individuals but Massimo was outstanding,” he said.

“He was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch.

“He showed what a good player he is tonight.”

He also claimed that he would have appointed Villa manager Steve Bruce to the England job

He said: “For me Steve Bruce is a world-class manager. People may laugh but you don’t get four promotions at this level if you are not as good as he is. Actually I wanted him for England when he was out of work.”

Attention will now turn to an extremely-tough fixture, again in front of the TV cameras, against high-flying Brighton on Friday.

The Seagulls’ 3-1 win over Birmingham City on Tuesday lifted them over Newcastle United, who played last night [Wednesday] after the Times had gone to press, to the top of the table and confirmed a play-off position at least.

Kick-off at Loftus Road is at 7.45pm.