Last updated on .From the section Championship

QPR winger Pawel Wszolek (far left) scored in the league for the first time since March

Queens Park Rangers continued their fine form in the Championship by beating Aston Villa at Loftus Road to record their fourth win in a five-match unbeaten run.

After Jack Grealish had hit the post with a long-range free-kick for the visitors, Pawel Wszolek put the R's ahead seven minutes before the break with an emphatic finish off the underside of the bar.

Tammy Abraham deflected a free-kick wide after the break and Rangers keeper Joe Lumley denied Yannick Bolasie with a low stop as Villa sought an equaliser.

But the hosts survived pressure in the second half to move up to seventh in the table, one point off the play-offs, while Villa have won just one of their past seven games.

After tasting victory in his first game in charge against Swansea, Dean Smith has now seen his Villa side fall to back-to-back defeats and slip to 16th, six points off the top six before the rest of the weekend's fixtures.

Both sides had chances in a lively opening quarter of an hour, with John McGinn and Grealish firing wide and Luke Freeman and Eberechi Eze testing Villa keeper Orjan Nyland.

The hosts took the lead when the Villa defence momentarily switched off, with Wszolek running between James Chester and Neil Taylor to latch on to Geoff Cameron's lofted through ball and power in from 14 yards out.

Toni Leistner and Angel Rangel put in crucial blocks to help secure a third successive clean sheet for Steve McClaren's side, who have recovered remarkably after losing their first four games of the season.

QPR manager Steve McClaren:

"I am so proud of the players and the staff. It has been a tough week and we have got three wins and three clean sheets.

"We had to win a big game at home and this was it. We needed to score first and defend the box for our lives to hold on.

"The players showed great character and it is a platform in terms of what we can do. We need to take advantage and not let things slip."

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith told BBC WM:

"We were good tonight and created some big chances. We were the aggressors throughout the game.

"It is frustrating because we gave a poor goal away and did not make the most of our opportunities.

"We gave it everything and on another day we win that game 3-0. Sometimes it is small margins which separate you.

"The spirit was there for all to see and I won't get too downhearted about it because the players are showing me what good players they are."