Queens Park Rangers defender Clint Hill believes that injuries to key attacking players prevented his side from making a consistent bid to earn automatic promotion from the Championship.
The Hoops finished in fourth position to earn a place in the playoffs, and while Hill has acknowledged that they didn't deserve a top-two spot, he insists that their challenge was hindered by setbacks for Charlie Austin and Matt Phillips.
The 35-year-old told BBC's Late Kick Off: "If we're being honest, we haven't quite been good enough all season to stay in that top two. The two teams which have gone up have been fantastic and consistent. I think that key injuries have hurt us.
"We are not a high-scoring team and we lost Charlie Austin for a large part of the season and Matty Phillips as well.
"We've lost 12 games and that says it all. We are strong at home but we couldn't match that record when we went away."
QPR will travel to Wigan Athletic on Friday evening for the first leg of their playoff semi-final tie.
