Ainsworth - We Could Have Been a Contender..."We're safe more or less. With 52 points it would be shocking to go down..."

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Ealing Gazette/Yann Tear - Paying for poor start
GARETH Ainsworth is convinced promotion would have been clinched this year if Rangers had played all season as they are now.
The Rs threw away two points at Wolves on Saturday by conceding an injury time goal and the away form is still unpredictable.
But the QPR winger says the quality of the play and the progress made since December when the club were bottom of the Championship leaves him in no doubt.
"Without a doubt we'd be up there if we'd started the season the way we are finishing it," Ainsworth told the Gazette.
"It's tough to think of the first nine or 10 games of the season and where we could have been. We could easily have been challenging for those automatic promotion places.
"The only difference between teams now is the start made by some of the others. They picked up points and we failed to pick up points.
"But it's fantastic to have the backing we've got now. The money troubles are well behind us and now it's all about football troubles, which is how it should be."
Ainsworth was at Loftus Road this week to witness the announcement of a new fiveyear £20m deal with Italian sportswear form Lotto.
And Ainsworth, who aims to be involved with the club in a coaching capacity next year as well as on the playing side in the final year of his contract, is excited at the latest sign of Rangers' robust financial health.
"It's amazing the rollercoaster we've been through in the five or six years I've been at the club," he said.
"It's really a pinch-yourself day today.
"It fills me with pride and will hopefully fill every QPR player with pride. We are not just a Premier League club being taken over, we're doing things from a grass-roots Championship level and we're going to try and work our way up.
"We're not going to chuck money away on stupid signings and hopefully we can work on a greater structure and have a great youth system that sees us challenge in the Premier League in a few years.
"I've been asked to help out on the coaching side. That's come quite naturally as I already help out with motivation in the dressing room and instructions on the pitch and I want to keep involved in some capacity."
The bigger picture will help Ainsworth get over the slight disappointment of a lost opportunity to claim a fifth away win of the season.
"It's déjà vu with a lot of games away from home, especially with the last minute goal we conceded," he said.
"It's something we're working on and we'll probably get right next year.
"At least we've got the rest of the season now to work on it. We're safe more or less. With 52 points it would be shocking to go down.
"Maybe we need to improve on fitness a little bit, but we've had promotion form at home and if we can slightly tweak the away form, I don't think we will be too far away."
Ainsworth added: "At least we are entertaining and some of the quality of the goals are different class.
"They haven't been lucky ricochets or anything like that, they've actually been well worked goals with a variety of long shots, close range passes and crosses.
"We've got the full lot and it's looking really good.
"We've got another big test this week at Ipswich, who are really on a roll and have the best home record in the division.
"They're sneaking up there without anyone really noticing but they were a Premier League side not so long ago and they've definitely got the credentials to be there."
Ealing Gazette


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Club Captain Gareth Ainsworth has encouraged his R's team-mates to end the season on a high.
Rangers visit top-six candidates Ipswich Town in the Championship on Saturday afternoon knowing only victory will keep their own feint play-off dreams alive.
And Ainsworth believes a positive finish to the season will pay huge dividends when the new campaign kicks off in August.
"It's essential that we finish the season on the front foot, so we head into the new campaign on a high," he told www.qpr.co.uk.
"It's funny really - every Saturday afternoon, the lads are saying 'what if we'd won there, what if we'd held on in that one.'
"It's such a tight division and any sort of positive run of results can do your league position the power of good, but the target remains to take each game as it comes.
"Our aim is to get three more points on the board at Ipswich on Saturday and we'll see where that takes. QPR