Newcastle United boss John Carver defended his players after defeat at QPR.

Emmanuel Riviere's first Premier League goal in 22 appearances handed Newcastle control at the break at Loftus Road on Saturday, only for Matt Phillips and Leroy Fer to nick a 2-1 victory for QPR.

It leaves Newcastle still not safe from the drop.

"I'm not so sure about 'bottled it'. We had a 10-minute mad spell in the game," said Carver.

"In the first half we were in control not under any threat.

"But then we shot ourselves in the foot again in that 10 minutes after half-time.

"It was in our hands today and we could have put it to bed today."