Rs head to Midlands off the back of two straight wins in all competitions

Brent & Kilburn Times: Bright Osayi-Samuel opened the scoring for Queens Park Rangers against Bristol Rovers in the second round of the Carabao Cup (pic: Mike Egerton/PA)Bright Osayi-Samuel opened the scoring for Queens Park Rangers against Bristol Rovers in the second round of the Carabao Cup (pic: Mike Egerton/PA) (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Queens Park Rangers head for Birmingham City in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday in search of a third straight win in all competitions.

After a difficult start to the new term, the Rs beat Wigan Athletic in the league last weekend, before reaching the Carabao Cup third round by beating Bristol Rovers at home on Tuesday night.

McClaren named an entirely new starting XI for the game against Rovers, but the gamble paid off as the west Londoners progressed.

Bright Osayi-Samuel was QPR’s top performer in the cup win, netting the opening goal against the Gasheads, and could well have forced his way into contention to start at Birmingham on Saturday.

And Rs boss McClaren knows Osayi-Samuel is among a cluster of promising players the club currently has at their disposal.

“I knew there were talents here, young talents,” said McClaren.

“I knew that from training, but they’ve got to put it into practice on the big arena, the big stage, and all of them did that on Tuesday, but none were more special than Bright.

“I think he’s going to be a real star of the future; he’s got end-product, he hasn’t just got that speed and dribbling.

“He can cross, he can assist and he can score. He needs consistency in his game, but that will only come when he plays.”

The game at St Andrew’s is QPR’s final match before the first international break of the season.

The Rs will hope to head into the two-week gap between matches on a high with their first away success in all competitions this season.

But rather than fret over the upcoming break in the fixture list, McClaren instead appears to be relishing it.

And the QPR boss believes the gap between games could prove to be hugely beneficial for the Loftus Road side in the long run.

“The international break is going to be huge for all of us. We’ve finally got that break where we can work with the two strikers in a system and a way of playing that will make us better and better,” he added.

QPR’s last trip to Birmingham in December last year saw the west Londoners claim a 2-1 success at St Andrew’s.

A similar result on Saturday would not go amiss as the Rs seek to keep building momentum.