Goalkeeper Seny Dieng broke his nose before being sent off in the 2-1 win at Middlesbrough, QPR manager Mark Warburton revealed.
Dieng was in the thick of the action at the Riverside where the Rs managed to hold on to their lead despite his dismissal with 32 minutes remaining.
Dieng was smashed in the nose when he prevented Yannick Bolasie from levelling in the first half and despite requiring lengthy treatment the Swiss-born Senegalese keeper carried on playing.
But he was sent off in the 58th minute after he rushed out of his box and brought down Duncan Watmore.
Warburton said: "When Seny had the injury...he broke his nose – quite a nasty break. He wanted to come out for the second half. He did very well.
"He pulled off the good save after the injury. But to have a keeper of Joe Lumley's quality on the bench is very pleasing for us."
Rob Dickie's 30-yard drive in the 15th minute and Lee Wallace's header less than three minutes later put the visitors in charge but Bolasie pulled one back in the 28th minute.
Boro pushed for an equaliser after Dieng's dismissal but replacement Lumley made two vital stops to deny George Saville in the latter stages of the game.
Warburton, whose side have won six of their last nine games, said: "The first 20-25 minutes was very good. We got ourselves two goals up and looked very dominant.
"We conceded a sloppy goal to make it 2-1 and then the second half was a completely different dynamic because of the sending off. We had to show character.
"Middlesbrough have a strong squad. Joe Lumley came on and produced two outstanding saves for us to ensure we stayed in front and got the points. It should have been 2-2."
QPR jumped two points ahead of Middlesbrough and moved up a place to 10th with the win.
Neil Warnock is not too concerned about the league table now the play-off places are out of reach, but the Boro boss has warned his squad that he has seen things that have convinced him it is time to make changes before next season.
Warnock said: "I have got a few answers. In some respects, it is frustrating, disappointing, all of those adjectives. There were a few answers out there. I know who I have to get out, keep and build on.
"My mind was helped with one or two performances out there. To give two goals away, I still don't understand.
"Djed Spence was marking the man and let him (Wallace) head in the goal. Any player has to stick with the man. It was the winning goal in the end.
"We still had good chances to equalise and go on and win it. I think Yannick could have gone on to equalise when it was stopped for the red card.
"You can see we have a nucleus of good players, unfortunately we missed the lads we have missing.
"We have to bring players in so that when we do lose certain players we have good ones to replace them."
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