It was a frustrating afternoon for Heckingbottom as Small’s sliced clearance equalised Brad Potts’ opener for Preston just after half-time.

North End’s draw with Leicester on Friday had similar individual errors, and Heckingbottom said: “I feel for everyone, for the staff and players, over the past two games.

“I have said to everyone get around Thierry (Small), no one wants to be that player.

“The frustrating thing is we scored a fantastic goal, similar to Friday but today was a purely freak goal. There is no blame. It could have happened to anyone.

“I thought we lost a bit of calmness when they equalised and that is the bit of the game we need to manage.

“I think everyone was beat up a little bit by the way we conceded the goal.”

After scoring in the 46th minute, Preston did not register another shot on target.

He said: “I think our best moments were on the counter-attacks, and turning those moments into good attempts, then goals.

“We want to have goal threats. It isn’t about how you play, it is about winning games and doing your job at one end.

“Putting your body on the line and making blocks at one end and then doing it all again at the other, being brave and aggressive to score.

“We certainly don’t score enough ugly goals from set-plays which can help us get up the league.”

QPR headed into this game after three wins on the bounce but they were lacklustre until they went behind.

Rangers manager Julien Stephan said: “I thought first-half offensively there wasn’t enough connection or technical quality but that changed completely in the second half.

“We were very dominant, we deserved to win the game with the chances but we need to be efficient but I enjoyed the reaction from the players.

“It is important to learn from different games and sequences and sometimes we had some difficulties, especially away from home to react in the first part of the season.

“Today we were able to react and we didn’t accept the situation. It was important to show that and it shows we have improved even with this young team.

“In the last minute, Kone was the one who offered a ball and normally it is an assist.

“Offensively and defensively he did a great job today, he is a really important player for us. He will continue to improve but we enjoy to work with him.”