Lee Cook insists Rangers are heading to St Andrews this weekend aiming to lay down a marker to the rest of the division.

After two below-par performances at Loftus Road, the R's travel to the Midlands for a Saturday lunchtime kick-off against Alex McLeish's in-form Blues.

And Cook, who scored a wonder-goal for the R's at St Andrews two seasons ago, is adamant Rangers can build on their last trip to the Midlands, when Damion Stewart's header clinched victory over Aston Villa in the Carling Cup.

Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk, Cook said: "No-one expects us to go there and get a result, but people were writing us off prior to Villa and probably again at Norwich when we were down to ten men for over an hour - but we got results there, so let's just wait and see.

"They're obviously going to enjoy long spells of possession at times, but if we play to our full potential, we're capable of pushing them all the way."

Cook is relishing the opportunity of playing in front of a boisterous home crowd, as well as the small matter of a TV audience of millions on Sky Sports.

"I love playing at big grounds like St Andrews," he said.

"As a professional footballer, you relish playing in front of big crowds and that will certainly be the case this weekend.

"The fact it's on Sky Sports adds an extra bit of spice to the occasion and the fact we're two of the favourites to go up makes it even more exciting."

Cook added: "They've got a great squad, with devastating attacking options - there front-line alone are worth in excess of £10 million.

"But we've done okay on the road and Fitz (Hall) and Damion (Stewart) in particular are playing really well at the heart of our back four.

"Of course we'll have to weather the storm at times, but to a man, we believe we can get a positive result there."