It came three days after a home loss to Barnsley ended Brentford's 21-game unbeaten league run.

But Frank said: "The important message to get out is that if anyone had told us at the beginning of the season that we'd be in this position, with 57 points, I think we would have said 'Yes, we'll take that'.

"I'm aware we can lose the next one every single time because this league is so even.

"I showed only one clip to the players after the Barnsley game, which we lost to a team that was just a tiny bit better than us.

"The clip I showed was in the 94th minute when we had eight players sprinting back from a corner.

"If you have that mentality, work-rate and togetherness you will be absolutely fine."

Second-placed Brentford's wobble is bound to come under scrutiny given that two defeats – including one against Barnsley – at the end of last season cost them promotion and they then lost in the play-off final to Fulham.

Frank added: "Of course we're disappointed by losing two games. But this is football. The Championship is not Manchester City, Liverpool or Bayern Munich running away with it.

"The difference between teams is so small and if you're on the wrong side of fine margins you can lose a game.

"That happened today. We need to learn from it and we need to move forward."

QPR's former Brentford boss Mark Warburton played down Austin's celebration after his winning goal.

Austin, back for a second spell at Rangers, ran towards the technical area and close to Frank, who was unamused.

"Thomas and Charlie will shake hands and move on," Warburton said.

"It's a local derby with emotions running high and Charlie's just scored the winner late in the game – it's never going to be nicey-nicey, that's for sure.

"Someone might not agree with the way he conducted himself, but Charlie's a top-class pro and it means a lot – it means a lot to Charlie, to the team and our supporters.

"I'm delighted for Charlie and for the team. It's a really important three points for us and obviously we know what it means to the supporters.

"In the first half an hour we showed far too much respect to Brentford and they were the better team. They're a good team if you give them time and space.

"We had to respond and be better in the second half, which we certainly were. The players deserve so much credit for that quality of response."