QPR thrashed Leeds United 4-0 in the Championship on Friday, ensuring Leicester City booked their promotion straight back to the Premier League.

Ilias Chair was the star for the Hoops as he scored the opener and assisted two more goals to ensure QPR will stay in the Championship for another season.

Lucas Andersen, Lyndon Dykes and Sam Field also got their names on the scoresheet in an emphatic win for Marti Cifuentes' side.

Leeds' heaviest defeat of the season was a huge blow in the race for an automatic promotion spot, with Ipswich Town just one point behind them in third place with two games in hand going into their away clash against Hull City on Saturday.

Marti Cifuentes said he would sleep soundly after QPR got the vital win they needed against Preston but warned his players not to ease up.

Lyndon Dykes’ first-half goal secured a 1-0 victory that takes Rangers to 50 points, six above the relegation zone with matches against Leeds and Coventry to finish the season.

Their superior goal difference means their Championship survival will be all but secured if second-bottom Sheffield Wednesday lose at Blackburn on Sunday.

Asked if he believes Saturday’s win will be enough to keep Rangers up, Cifuentes said: “I hope so. Right now it looks like a big step forward.

“But whatever happens in the next games, I think the kind of mindset – the winning culture we need in this club – means that we are going to try to keep winning until the end of the season.

“My mindset is that of course today we took a big step forward in the right direction but until the job is done it’s not done, so we need to make sure that we go into the last two games all-in.

“I’m going to sleep pretty well, that’s for sure. But until the job is done it’s not done.

“I’m very happy for the guys. It was a difficult game with a lot of pressure and we responded.

“We had to win this game. The focus was excellent and I’m very proud of the guys.”

Dykes’ goal was his first in 16 matches for QPR and only his fifth in the league this season.

The striker took advantage to tap into an empty net at the far post after Preston keeper Freddie Woodman spilled Chris Willock’s cross.

“I’m very happy for Lyndon. Today he had one of his best games of the season, if not the best,” Cifuentes said.

“He showed character and personality. Sometimes football is about passion and I think all the guys showed a lot of passion.

“We’ve been talking about the need for ugly goals and he was in the right place at the right time.”

Preston boss Ryan Lowe suggested his players would be hauled in for extra training after their poor performance.

“It wasn’t good enough. Nowhere near the levels,” Lowe said.

“I know it’s a mistake for the goal, but we’ve got to do better all-round, with and without the ball. I didn’t recognise that team as a Preston North End team.

“Back to the drawing board, two games to go, and I don’t want the season to just peter out.

“We felt that today was a game that we could compete in and win. We competed to an extent, but the quality on show from both teams wasn’t great. I expect my team to be better.

“We didn’t sustain attacks, didn’t look after the ball and it wasn’t a performance I felt could win a game of football and I said that to the players.

“They expected to take a few extra days this week but we’ll be back in, back at the training ground working hard, because we’ve got two important games left.

“We’ve got to be solid and resolute – back to being us. Back to being what’s got us this far. We were nowhere near today.”

QPR beat Preston 1-0 at Loftus Road to all but secure Championship safety as Lyndon Dykes ended his goal drought with a first-half winner.

Scotland striker Dykes pounced at the far post after keeper Freddie Woodman spilled Chris Willock’s cross to net his first QPR goal in 16 matches and only his fifth in the league this season.

Victory took Rangers to 50 points, six clear of the relegation zone with two matches of the campaign remaining, but their superior goal difference means the win almost certainly keeps them up.

Results elsewhere earlier on Saturday meant Marti Cifuentes’ side kicked off knowing that a win would effectively end fears of dropping into League One.

They started in determined fashion, with Lucas Andersen firing wide and both Dykes and Ilias Chair shooting well over.

A period of Preston pressure followed and Liam Millar was denied at point-blank range by Rangers keeper Asmir Begovic after exchanging passes with Ben Woodburn.

QPR were suddenly struggling, but were gifted a goal after 20 minutes.

Willock cut in from the left and delivered a cross which seemed like a routine take for Woodman, who inexplicably fumbled the ball to the grateful Dykes.

Woodman somewhat atoned by preventing a Rangers second, diving to his left to push away Willock’s fierce strike.

However, the North End keeper was guilty of another error shortly afterwards when he fumbled Andersen’s corner, but Jake Clarke-Salter’s attempt to force in the loose ball was blocked and Preston managed to scramble it clear.

As Rangers continued to threaten, Dykes won the ball in midfield and was sent through by Chair, but opted to shoot early rather than continue towards goal and his effort went harmlessly wide of the target.

Preston had another let-off in the opening minutes of the second half when Dykes and Kenneth Paal were just unable to get a decisive touch to Willock’s low cross from the right.

The visitors rode their luck again when R’s defender Steve Cook scuffed a shot wide after Preston had failed to deal with Andersen’s corner, and when Woodman flapped at another Andersen corner and his defenders were able to clear.

It was certainly a day to forget for the hapless Woodman, although he did manage to parry headers from Chair and Sam Field before QPR appealed in vain for a penalty when Chair’s cross hit Jordan Storey’s hand.

Preston threatened in the closing stages but the hosts defended well and Cifuentes can now almost allow himself to celebrate a job well done.

Rangers were second bottom of the table, six points from safety and had lost six matches in a row when the Spaniard took over as boss at the end of October following the sacking of Gareth Ainsworth.

Goals from Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong gave relegation-threatened QPR a vital 2-0 win over Millwall at Loftus Road.

It was Rangers’ first victory in eight Sky Bet Championship matches and lifted them up a place, to third from bottom.

And it means they will move level on points with Huddersfield, the team immediately above them in the table, if they beat the Terriers in another crucial game next weekend.

In a feisty London derby, both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances before Chair put Rangers ahead in the 27th minute with his third goal of the season.

Lyndon Dykes, usually a striker but currently operating in a withdrawn role, played a big part in the build-up.

Dykes controlled the ball nicely and laid it to the right to Chris Willock, who turned away from Joe Bryan and delivered a left-footed cross to the far post, where Chair bundled home from close range after getting in front of Millwall’s on-loan Arsenal youngster Brooke Norton-Cuffy.

QPR continued to threaten after the goal and Willock fired over – again after turning away from Bryan – before Dykes’ side-footed effort flashed narrowly wide.

Millwall’s first real sight of goal came a couple of minutes before half-time, when Billy Mitchell sent a first-time strike over the bar after being found by Zian Flemming’s cross from the left.

Rangers were back on the front foot after the interval, with Dykes heading wide from Willock’s cross and then testing keeper Matija Sarkic with a low shot which was well saved.

And the hosts appealed in vain for a penalty when Wes Harding blocked Dykes’ shot with his hands.

Rangers then had a let-off of their own when keeper Asmir Begovic allowed Mitchell’s shot to squirm through his legs and was rescued by Reggie Cannon’s clearance off the line.

Cannon took a heavy knock in the process and as he lay on the ground the defender appeared to be struck by a number of objects thrown from the away fans’ section of the ground.

That was the closest Millwall came to an equaliser – and there was no way back for them after Armstrong’s 85th-minute goal.

Chair teed up Jack Colback and, after Sarkic failed to hold the veteran midfielder’s left-footed shot, Armstrong was on hand to tuck away the loose ball.

Millwall, who recently won three matches in a row under new boss Joe Edwards, have now suffered back-to-back defeats.

Bournemouth produced a stunning second-half comeback to beat QPR 3-2 and reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The Championship strugglers scored two goals in quick succession before the break through Sinclair Armstrong and Lyndon Dykes at Loftus Road.

But the Cherries came out after half-time firing and goals from Marcus Tavernier, Kieffer Moore and Justin Kluivert secured their seventh win in nine matches in all competitions.

QPR looked to strike early in the 10th minute. Andre Dozzell turned his man in midfield and combined with Dykes before his cross was too high for the striker to get on the end of.

The hosts continued their positive start in the 15th minute when Dykes forced Mark Travers into action.

Paul Smyth showed blistering pace to beat his marker and his cross onto the head of Dykes was denied by the acrobatic Travers, who got down quickly at his right post.

The Cherries started to warm into the tie and they went close after 21 minutes when Philip Billing’s driven shot across goal narrowly missed the target.

Bournemouth struggled up to that point but a moment of brilliance from Billing to retrieve the ball off Luis Sinisterra, dribble and get a shot off highlighted their Premier League quality.

But it was the Championship side who scored first after 40 minutes.

A searching ball forward found Armstrong with his back facing Bournemouth’s goal on halfway. The striker turned Marcos Senesi with ease and glided through on goal where he produced a placed finish into the bottom-right corner.

And straight after the restart in the 42nd minute Dykes got the goal he deserved and Rangers stormed into a 2-0 lead.

The attacker cut inside from the left and his long-range effort took a heavy deflection off Max Aarons, whose poor positioning saw the ball loop over the helpless Travers and into the net.

Bournemouth flew out of the blocks in the second half and grabbed a goal through Tavernier in the 48th minute.

Both sides scrapped for the loose ball in QPR’s box after a set-piece but it fell nicely to Tavernier, whose effort took another heavy deflection before it bounced past Asmir Begovic.

Bournemouth equalised in the 58th minute through Moore.

Alex Scott’s inswinging corner was whipped into the danger zone and Moore beat Begovic in the air to nod his side back into the game from six yards.

The visitors completed the turnaround after 69 minutes through Kluivert.

Billing, who had been outstanding all game, turned the ball over in QPR’s defensive third before he picked out Kluivert at the back post.

Kluivert, son of former Barcelona and Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert, showed how clinical he can be when he finished first time to seal victory for Bournemouth.

Lyndon Dykes’ stoppage-time goal rescued a point for QPR in a 1-1 draw with Swansea at Loftus Road.

Josh Ginnelly’s early goal looked like giving the Welsh side a first Sky Bet Championship win under boss Michael Duff.

But Scotland forward Dykes, on as a substitute, equalised by getting in front of defender Ben Cabango to head home Ilias Chair’s left-wing cross.

Swansea ended the match with 10 men after Ollie Cooper was sent off in the final seconds after a foul on Dykes earned him a second yellow card.

Dykes’ goal spared Rangers a fourth defeat of the season at home, where they have won just once since last October.

Summer signing Ginnelly, making his first league start for Swansea, netted after seven minutes.

He was helped by a mistake by goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who failed to hold Jamal Lowe’s low cross from the right and the ball ricocheted off Ginnelly and into the net despite defender Osman Kakay’s attempt to prevent it crossing the line.

Swansea, beaten in their previous four matches and having lost four of their previous five in the league, defended well and always looked a threat on the counter-attack.

Rangers struggled to create clear-cut openings but striker Sinclair Armstrong missed a great chance to equalise midway through the first half.

An unchallenged Armstrong collected Andre Dozzell’s pass and, seemingly believing he was offside, turned and scooped a shot woefully high and wide before discovering he was being played onside by Swansea’s on-loan Chelsea youngster Bashir Humphreys.

Rangers made a determined start to the second half and the lively Paul Smyth did well on the right and crossed for Chair, who headed wide.

Dykes, fit again after a recent knee injury, was sent on by R’s boss Gareth Ainsworth on the hour as the hosts continued to search for an equaliser.

Swansea might have added a second had Jerry Yates connected properly with a scuffed shot which was easily gathered by Begovic.

Swans midfielder Matt Grimes fired wide as the visitors again looked to hit Rangers with a sucker punch, and at the other end Chair missed the target with a similarly wayward effort from long range.

In the closing stages, Dykes poked a shot wide from near the edge of the penalty area and Chair saw a low strike deflected wide, but Ainsworth’s team were eventually rewarded for their persistence.