Derry says the Blues’ lack of discipline handed QPR the initiative at Loftus Road on Sunday

Shaun Derry believes Chelsea lost their heads in the cauldron of Loftus Road on Sunday.

Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa were both sent off for Andre Villas-Boas’ side, who also had seven players booked as QPR triumphed in the west London derby thanks to Heidar Helguson’s early penalty.

Villas-Boas insisted the result was influenced by a ‘very poor’ display from referee Chris Foy, who also refused to award the visitors a penalty for Anton Ferdinand’s second-half tangle with Frank Lampard.

But Derry dismissed those claims, insisting that the official was correct with all the key decisions, and instead believes that Chelsea’s players simply lost their discipline.

“These top, top players are not used to losing. Perhaps it hurt them, and they were showing at times that even the best players can lose their heads,” said Derry.

“When they lose their composure, you know you’re doing your job right, you know it’s paying off, what you’re trying to do out there.

“But they have a way, these top players, of persuading the referee to make different decisions, and I thought the referee was very strong today.

“I thought the referee got the big decisions right. Shaun Wright-Phillips was through on goal, [Bosingwa was] the last man, and that is the rules. If it had been on our side we would have taken it on the chin.

“The second red card was a forward’s challenge, perhaps he doesn’t make too many of them, it was a straight red and rightly so.

“We definitely had a game plan in the way we wanted to un-nerve them and put them under pressure in the right areas, and I thought our game plan really came together today.

“What do you do, do you stand off these players and let them dictate, or do you try and get amongst them and mix it with them? For me, I don’t think we were over aggressive in anything we were doing.”

The win was QPR’s first at Loftus Road this season, and sets them up perfectly for Sunday’s trip to Tottenham and the match with Manchester City at Loftus Road the following week, and Derry admitted it was a big relief for the Rs to finally break their duck at home.

“It’s the monkey off our backs. You don’t want to go to long without your first home win, and against our fiercest rivals, it means the absolute world to us,” he added.

“It means so much to us, everyone’s got the bragging rights going in to work on Monday, especially the way we lost to Fulham a few weeks ago, that hurt everyone connected with the club.

“When you’re coming up against Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, you’re looking for bonus points. You think that if we get something out of these three games, it will give us major encouragement, and that’s what it’s going to do.”

Follow Ian Cooper on Twitter @QPRTimes