DAMIEN Delaney admits his loss of form earlier this season came as no surprise – but reckons he is almost back to his best now. The QPR left-back was dropped in November after a number of patchy performances, but regained his place in the side...

DAMIEN Delaney admits his loss of form earlier this season came as no surprise - but reckons he is almost back to his best now.

The QPR left-back was dropped in November after a number of patchy performances, but regained his place in the side and has held onto it despite the arrival of Gary Borrowdale from Coventry.

"I don't get upset about that and I feel I'm getting there," said the 27-year-old Irishman. "With the hectic season we've got, you're not going to play well every game.

"There was a stage when we were playing every midweek for four or five weeks and of course there are a lot more games still to be played.

"I didn't have much of a break last summer - I was away with Ireland for three weeks, back in at QPR at the end of June and then I did a full pre-season.

"So if you look at my record, I played an awful lot of games over the last year and I was expecting to have a little bit of a drop physically. We're not machines and we can't keep going at the same level," he added.

Delaney could be in midweek action again next Wednesday - he is in the Republic of Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifying clash with Georgia at Croke Park.

Recent QPR signing Liam Miller is also included in the Irish squad, while Heidar Helguson and Damion Stewart should line up in friendlies for Iceland against Liechtenstein and Jamaica against Nigeria respectively.