Joey Barton scored his first goal for the Hoops in the eighth minute when he converted a cross from Shaun Wright-Phillips, and it was 2-0 in the 10th thanks to Alejandro Faurlin’s strike as Wanderers were made to pay for slack defending.

The visitors added a deserved third with three minutes of normal time remaining, substitute DJ Campbell opening his own account for the club by sliding in Armand Traore’s pass.

McCarthy threw on Hunt for Jarvis, while QPR manager Neil Warnock sent DJ Campbell and Tommy Smith into action in place of Bothroyd and Taarabt.

QPR’s performance had warranted another goal and Wright-Phillips almost delivered it in the 78th minute, only to see his effort come back off the post.

The visitors were not be denied, though, and Campbell was teed up by Traore to make it 3-0 in the 87th minute.