Robbie Blake’s brilliant equalising goal and Alan Mahon’s well-taken winner sealed a perfect week for Burnley in west London. “The quality of our passing, the strength of character we showed after falling behind and the high tempo with which we played were all extremely pleasing,” said Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager.

For QPR, it will soon betime for the ’world’s richest club’ to spend some money. Having eliminated Chelsea from the Carling Cup in midweek, Burnley’s confidence was soaring but their passing and penetration was surpassed by QPR’s early on. Hogan Ephraim and Lee Cook provided the home team with width and a succession of crosses left Clarke Carlisle and Michael Duff scrambling at the heart of the visitors’ defence. For a 20-minute spell, this was the best that QPR have played all season.

The opening goal came from Cook’s aggressive play on the left and an incisive pass to Dexter Blackstock, who shook off his marker inside the penalty area and whipped his shot past Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen inside the far post. QPR’s downfall was that they did not score a second goal while Burnley were on the ropes. Jensen managed to tip a header by Blackstock from Ephraim’s corner kick over the bar, Carlisle headed the ball away from Samuel Di Carmine at the back post and Martin Rowlands’ 25-yard shot was saved by Jensen.

But from the moment Robbie Blake equalised with a stunning strike out of the blue, there was a striking inevitability about Burnley’s performance. Joey Gudjonsson played the ball to the striker and in one quick movement he set up his left-footed shot and fired it like an Exocet missile into the top right corner. Suddenly, Burnley were in control, with Chris Eagles harassing QPR’s defenders and just clearing the crossbar with a 20-yard shot. Cerny saved another effort from Chris McCann and had to make a sharp stop again at the beginning of the second half from a shot by Blake.

QPR managed to break quickly and had a claim for a penalty turned down when Blackstock fell to the ground under Carlisle’s challenge. The referee also dismissed another appeal when Blackstock was challenged by Stephen Jordan. “For me, that was a stonewall penalty,” said Gareth Ainsworth, QPR’s caretaker manager.

When Fitz Hall could only head Blake’s cross as far as Mahon, the substitute directed an excellent left-footed shot, struck first-time, past Cerny. The QPR goalkeeper made a point-blank save to deny Blake a second goal but Ainsworth’s team showed character, too, with Blackstock heading narrowly wide from Halls’ cross and substitute Patrick Agyemang forcing Jensen to tip his shot over in the dying minutes. “Despite beating Chelsea, it would have left a sour taste in the mouth if we had not won today, so I’m delighted,” said Coyle.

STAR MAN: Robbie Blake (Burnley)

QPR (4-4-2): Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Hall 7, Stewart 6, Connolly 6, Ephraim 6 (Agyemang 63, 6), Tommasi 6 (Mahon 54, 6), Rowlands 7, Cook 7, Di Carmine 6, Blackstock 7 Goal: Blackstock 14

Burnley (4-4-2): Jensen 7, Alexander 6, Carlisle 7, Duff 7, Jordan 6, Elliott 6, Gudjonsson 7, McCann 7, Eagles 7 (Mahon 56, 7), Blake 8 (McDonald 79, 5), Thompson 6 (Akinbiyi 85) Goals: Blake 34, Mahon 60 Booked: Jordan 80, McDonald 83

Referee: K Woolmer

Attendance: 13,286