QPR boss Marti Cifuentes is hopeful his side’s new signings can keep the club in the Championship after they combined to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw at home to Norwich.

Swiss striker Michael Frey headed in a cross from fellow pre-deadline signing Lucas Andersen to earn the west London side a draw.

Meanwhile, loan signings Isaac Hayden and Joe Hodge impressed in midfield, giving head coach Cifuentes plenty of encouragement in the battle to avoid relegation.

The Spaniard said: “I’m very happy for the new players. I think that all of them are showing they are great professionals.

“These four players are coming from situations where we will need to take into account that they will perhaps need a couple of weeks to be at their best version, but I’m happy with them.

“The assist from Lucas to Frey was brilliant. All of them are giving good performances for us.

“They need match fitness but they’ve shown fantastic performances and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do together with the rest of the guys.

“We definitely feel like we’re stronger now than we were before.”

QPR took the lead through Jack Colback’s opener but Norwich hit back with second-half goals from Kenny McLean and Josh Sargent.

Frey’s leveller meant third-bottom Rangers closed the gap on Huddersfield, the team immediately above them, to two points.

“I can never be happy with just a point, but we played against a strong team that scored two quality goals,” said Cifuentes.

“We managed to have good moments, both in the first half and the second, and I want to praise the attitude and the mentality of the guys.

“It’s not easy to be behind at home in the situation that we are in. But we had the mental strength and capacity to keep on pushing – and after the equaliser from Frey we still tried to go for the victory.”

Norwich boss David Wagner was left to rue a miss by Ashley Barnes shortly before QPR’s equaliser.

“Performance-wise, OK. Intensity and energy, top. Result, a little bit frustrating,” said Wagner.

“But I think it’s a positive if we are frustrated at getting a point away from home against QPR in a game where we have come back from one down.

“Unfortunately we didn’t score the third one where Barnsey had a great opportunity. Then we conceded a sloppy goal, which cost us.

“Our biggest challenge today was not to get too emotional and to stay calm. I think when we did that we looked very good in possession and were able to break them down and create opportunities.

“So I’m a little bit frustrated that we haven’t won this game, because it was possible. We should be fair also and say that performance-wise this was OK.

“Unfortunately it’s only a point. I think it’s OK if there’s a little bit of frustration about only getting the point after being 1-0 down at half-time away from home.

“We should look at the performance as well. You only have positive results if you perform consistently and this is what the players have done in recent weeks.”

QPR scored twice in three second-half minutes to boost their survival hopes with a 2-1 win at Blackburn.

QPR took a 61st-minute lead through an unfortunate Aynsley Pears own goal, which owed much to the magic of Ilias Chair, but it was the least they deserved and Joe Hodge’s assured finish seven minutes into his QPR debut doubled their advantage.

It was too much for Blackburn’s supporters, who vociferously protested against owners Venky’s and their CEO Steve Waggott before Sam Gallagher’s fourth of the campaign halved the deficit 17 minutes from time.

But the visitors held on for their first win on this ground since October 1999 and with Blackburn now only five points clear of danger after a winless run of eight, QPR may have dragged them into the relegation battle.

Benjamin Chrisene should have given Rovers a fifth-minute lead when he found space inside the box and switched onto his right foot but got his curling effort all wrong and missed the target.

QPR looked the most assured of the two sides though and Chair engineered space on the left soon after, cutting inside before unleashing a rasping shot that Pears tipped away.

They went even closer when a flowing move saw Reggie Cannon cross for Sinclair Armstrong at the near post but he put his first-time shot the wrong side of the post.

Rovers were toothless, though Joe Rankin-Costello forced Asmir Begovic into a low save before Armstrong’s shot from a narrow angle was tipped behind.

The visitors went close again two minutes after the restart when Chair whipped a dangerous cross to the back post that Steve Cook met but his header whistled just wide, before Armstrong missed a glaring chance when over-running the ball clean through, allowing Pears to smother.

QPR got the goal their performance deserved just after the hour and it was thanks to the game’s outstanding player in Chair, who jinked inside from the left and dummied before letting fly with a ferocious low 25-yard strike that clattered the post and rebounded in off Pears.

They doubled their advantage three minutes later and there was no luck about this one as Armstrong found Hodge’s perfectly timed run into the box and he had time to pick his spot, slotting the ball beyond Pears into the right corner.

The atmosphere was bordering on mutinous after the second goal but Blackburn rallied and grabbed a lifeline when Rankin-Costello chased his mis-hit shot and bundled the ball into the path of Gallagher who fired through the legs of Begovic.

Begovic produced a sprawling save to deny Gallagher, and Semir Telalovic poked over deep into added time, but QPR held on for a vital win.