CHERRIES assistant manager Peter Grant has urged Sean O'Driscoll's troops to "keep believing in themselves" after they slipped to another narrow awayday defeat.

QPR striker Paul Furlong netted the only goal of the game as Cherries left Loftus Road empty-handed on Saturday - despite turning in another impressive display.

Derek Holmes and Marc-us Browning both hit the woodwork for Cherries as O'Driscoll's side dominated for long periods against last season's beaten Divi-sion Two play-off finalists.

Grant said: "There are no guarantees in football, but you've got to have a belief in what you are doing. You can have all the tactical nous and ideas in the world, but if the players don't believe in it, you haven't got a hope in hell. It doesn't matter whether they are the best players in the world or second or third division players in England, you've got to have them believing in what they are doing and I genuinely believe our players do believe in it.

"The higher you go, the more important it is to take the chances you get and the better you have got to defend when you're under a bit of pressure. We had an awful lot of the game on Saturday, but because of the quality of a side like QPR, they are obviously going to have a period when they are on top. That period of the game determined the result because they got one chance and took it.

"Maybe that's something we've got to learn because, no disrespect to the teams we played last season, but irrespective of how well you are playing, teams in this division will always have a five or 10-minute spell and that's the time you've got to stand tall and be strong."

QPR boss Ian Holloway admitted he had been outwitted by O'Driscoll's tactics which saw Holmes and Jason Tindall drafted in as replacements for wingers Wade Elliott and Danny Thomas.