Mark Hughes pinpointed a 'very poor' first-half showing from Rangers as the key factor behind their 3-2 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.

Goals from Yakubu, Steven Nzonzi and Junior Hoilett put Steve Kean's men into a three-goal lead at the half-time break.

Substitute Jamie Mackie bagged a brace for QPR after coming from the bench in the second half - but the Hoops ultimately gave themselves too much to do following their lacklustre performance in the opening period.

"We were very poor in the first half - the poorest we've been since I arrived at QPR," Hughes told www.qpr.co.uk.

"But it's understandable. We've not been through the door for any great length of time.

"The contrast between the first 45 minutes and the second was marked - but there shouldn't be a difference in performance of that size, in my opinion.

"The first half wasn't acceptable, but we'll take a little bit of comfort out of the second."

Hughes added: "I thought we completely dominated proceedings in the second half.

"You can't give any Premier League team a three-goal head-start and then try and get yourselves on level terms.

"Although, in fairness to us, we very nearly did that. That shows the players credit.

"But they have to understand that if you're going to win and take points in the Barclays Premier League, you can't be fundamentally flawed in the first 45 minutes.

"You have to be solid and have a base and a platform to win games. We didn't give ourselves that in the first half."