Young Irishman saw red four minutes after coming on against Tykes

Queens Park Rangers boss Ian Holloway refused to criticise Ryan Manning after the midfielder was sent off in the win at home to Barnsley in the Championship.

With the Rs leading 1-0 thanks to Josh Scowen’s strike early in the second half, Manning was dismissed for a poor challenge on Tykes defender Matt Mills in the 71st minute.

The young Irishman had only come on as a substitute four minutes earlier, but while Holloway admits it was the right decision for Manning to go, he refused to blame the midfielder.

“I won’t bemoan Ryan going for that tackle,” the 54-year-old told the club website.

“I think it was a foul and he definitely caught the boy. I think the ref got that one right, but I won’t ever stop my players from making tackles.”

Scowen’s winner against his former club Barnsley was his first goal for QPR since moving on a free transfer in the summer.

It has been a long wait for the midfielder to get off the mark for the west Londoners, but Holloway hopes Scowen can add to that tally before the season is out.

“Josh scored goals when he was at Barnsley and we’ve asked him to get forward more – and today he scored a cracker,” he added.

“I could tell yesterday in training that he was going to be right at it.”