Harry Redknapp was pleased that QPR showed character despite losing again on their travels, 2-1 at Southampton.
It was a third away defeat of the season for Rangers, following on from 4-0 reverses at Manchester United and Tottenham.
Rangers boss Redknapp shook off taunts from Saints fans on his south coast return, owing to his defection from Saints to Portsmouth in 2005.
The ex-Tottenham boss was impressed by Charlie Austin's second league goal of the campaign - an equaliser after Ryan Bertrand's second-half opener - but admitted his side must sharpen up further in their bid for top-flight stability as they went down to a spectacular Graziano Pelle strike.
Brazil star Sandro returned after knee trouble, only to depart in the opening exchanges due to a heavy blow to the head.
Redknapp allayed fears about any lasting damage, admitting the medics had to remove the holding midfielder as a precaution.
On Austin's goal, Redknapp said: "It was a great finish. He's proved again he can score at this level and that's important and encouraging."
And on his side's overall performance, he added: "We didn't play too badly at all to be honest, but we can still keep improving and we've got to make that progress.
"We were sorry to lose Sandro so early in the game, after a matter of minutes.
"We kept going, kept working, lots to work on and we can keep going.
"He got a bang on the head and the doctor was worried about it.
"He didn't look too bad at half-time, but obviously the doctors have got to err on the side of caution.
"There have been plenty of new directives on head injuries and we just couldn't take any risks at all."