Steve McClaren described QPR’s first Sky Bet Championship away win of the season as “a huge three points” after a 2-1 victory at Bolton.
But the Rangers boss admitted the Londoners put him through the wringer in the closing 20 minutes.
Goals from Luke Freeman and Ebere Eze saw QPR move 2-0 up after 56 minutes only for substitute Josh Magennis to claw a goal back with a 69th-minute free-kick.
Erhun Oztumer wasted a good chance to equalise in the closing minutes but Rangers hung on for their first away win since last March.
McClaren was pleased with the way his side dealt with the late Bolton siege, saying: “We defended it well but other days you don’t get away with that.
“So I am disappointed in that because we should have been out of sight, not holding on.
“However, we’ve got seven points from three games and we showed we can do everything.
“We can play football, we can compete and work hard and get results away from home which is tough.
“The start of the season was poor. But we really only had two bad halves; the second against West Brom and the second against Bristol City.
“The rest have been okay but this and the other two performances showed we can compete a lot better than we did four or five weeks ago. Now, we have got to build on this.”