QPR livewire Paul Smyth relishes '˜big game' against Sunderland

The Black Cats visit Loftus Road on Saturday, desperate for points to boost their faltering survival bid, with Smyth eager to build on the draw, which was earned by Massimo Luongo’s late header.

“We’ll just keep pushing,” the 20-year-old Northern Irishman told qpr.co.uk.

“I love playing at Loftus Road, so Saturday is another big game for us.

“We want to finish this season as strongly as possible.

“Obviously the league table will look a lot healthier if we win that one – and that’s what we intend to do.

“If we apply ourselves correctly, as we know we can, we’re confident we can get a positive result.”

QPR are 16th, 10 points clear of the drop zone and 12 ahead of Sunderland.

Smyth was a livewire against Derby in only his sixth first-team appearance and he enthused: “The boys gave absolutely everything and kept going for the 90 minutes.

“We stuck to the task and in the end we got a late goal to get a point which was well deserved.

“We’ll take the positives out of the game, because there were plenty, and move on to Saturday.”