QPR boss Mark Warburton on major refereeing incidents and Leeds United's promotion hopes

Mark Warburton said he did not see Nahki Wells' handball before his controversial goal that gave Queens Park Rangers side 1-0 win over Leeds United today, but felt they deserved their first half lead.

The R's boss was delighted with how his players stood up to the challenge of the Whites, who missed a glut of chances, including a penalty that Warburton felt was harshly awarded.

"I thought we deserved the lead in the first half," he said.

"I thought we got off too deep in the second half and invited a very good team.

"We gave away too many set-pieces but got first contact. They did stand up to a man today."

On the winner, he said: "I haven't seen it yet, it was a magnificent goal to me."

But he did see the penalty decision, when goalkeeper Liam Kelly collided with Leeds forward Patrick Bamford, who then missed the spot-kick.

"I've seen it, Liam tried to pull away, Patrick was very clever, good centre forward play. Liam showed his quality today. I was pleased with the way he came for the cross straight away after," said Warburton.

And he also had a view on the Kalvin Phillips challenge that earned the Leeds midfielder a late red card.

Phillips was late on Geoff Cameron and got his marching orders from referee Peter Bankes.

"It was a very, very poor challenge," said Warburton.

"You don't want to see any player red carded. It was a really poor challenge, a very dangerous tackle.

"Geoff is sore right now but he got away with it. He wasn't a happy man at the final whistle, he missed three months last season."

As for the visitors and their promotion challenge going forward, a challenge that has faltered in recent weeks with just one win in seven outings, Warburton is not counting Leeds out.

"They're a highly talented team," he said.

"A 46 game season demands of a squad. You can't win every game, you're going to have these blips. We took one point out of 12 and went down one place. Teams are beating each other, like West Brom.

"Leeds are very talented. You have to remove any doubt or lack of belief and I'm sure he's a master at it. They are where they are for a reason. After what happened previously and in the documentary, then the focus is very much on them.

"[Marcelo Bielsa] is an outstanding manager, they're a talented team and on May 3 I'm sure they'll be right there."