The Rams twice came from behind to secure a 3-2 victory at Loftus Road and maintain their chance of snatching a play-off place.

Banel and David Ozoh, who are on loan from Burnley and Crystal Palace respectively, were left out of the starting line-up, having worked hard in Tuesday’s draining 2-1 defeat against Norwich.

They were brought on just after the hour, with Derby 2-1 down and struggling.

Harvey Vale put Rangers ahead and Oscar Fraulo levelled, before Richard Kone put the hosts back in front with his 10th league goal of the season.

The substitutions helped change the course of the game. Sondre Langas hauled the Rams level again before Banel’s 85th-minute strike secured the points.

“That was part of the reason for leaving him out. I felt both him and David could give us a really exciting last half an hour,” said Eustace.

“The reason for leaving Jaydon and David out was the amount of work they did on Saturday and Tuesday – their numbers were off the scale.

“I felt they could really impact that last half-hour. To get the impact from those two after the numbers they hit on Tuesday was great.

“What I wanted from them when they came on was exactly what I got.”

Rangers were on top for much of the match, but Eustace was unfazed by his team being second best before the late transformation.

He declared: “What a brilliant win. Fantastic. You have to find a way to win at this stage of the season.

“After that first hour we were probably quite fortunate to be level, but then we made some positive changes and were very good.

“It’s part of having a good group of players. Over 46 games there are going to be some really hard games and you have to find a way to win – and we certainly did that today.”

QPR boss Julien Stephan was at a loss to explain how his side lost after being so impressive for most of the game.

They ended the match with 10 men after forward Rumarn Burrell, recently back after a three-month absence, limped off with Rangers having made all their permitted substitutions.

“I don’t know (how we lost). A lot of frustration at the end of the game for us,” said Stephan.

“There was pride at the way we played, how we started the game. It was exactly what we needed to do – impose ourselves on the pitch with a lot of intensity, good movement, attack and be very aggressive in the opponents’ half.

“We played unbelievable in the first hour. It was probably the best hour of the season for us. But we created a lot of chances and after one hour we had kept the opponent alive, and when that’s the case you never know what can happen.

“And then when you play the last 10 or 15 minutes with only 10 players on the pitch, it’s more difficult.

“But for the future we need to manage these type of games better and kill them off when we play this well. It’s difficult to play better football than we did today.”