Joey Barton will not dwell on the boo-boys who targeted him in QPR's dramatic win over Liverpool, according to Jamie Mackie.
Goal hero does not think there is any need to worry about QPR captain
Joey Barton will not dwell on the boo-boys who targeted him in Queens Park Rangers' dramatic win over Liverpool, according to goal hero Jamie Mackie.
Mackie scored deep into injury time to complete a remarkable comeback from Mark Hughes' side, who recovered from 2-0 down to secure a highly-fortuitous yet valuable victory.
The win - just their second in 17 Premier League matches - moved the Londoners out of the relegation zone and they are now two points clear of danger ahead of Saturday's game against Sunderland.
Gloss was taken off the victory somewhat by a large section of the home crowd opting to boo captain Barton when he was replaced by Mackie with Liverpool 1-0 up and in firm control of the game.
Barton, who has been dogged by controversy throughout his career,
admitted on Wednesday night that he was disappointed at the crowd's fury towards him and Mackie has echoed those sentiments.
"You don't like to see that, especially towards your captain," Mackie said.
Big part to play
Barton conceded that he had put in the worst performance of his career and many of the 18,000 inside Loftus Road clearly agreed with him.
The midfielder, who signed from Newcastle on a free transfer last summer, gave the ball away on a number of occasions in the first half, his tackling was clumsy, and one shot at goal he had almost ended up in the second tier of the School End at the West London ground.
Mackie has insisted the 29-year-old will not be affected by the booing, however, and is confident that his skipper will bounce back from the poor display.
"Joey is an immensely strong character so I don't think we need to worry about him," Mackie said. "He was probably the happiest lad in the changing room after the match.
"He is the team captain and he wants us to win games whether he is banging the goals in or not and we are lucky to have him.
"He is our captain and he has probably got the biggest part to play in the run-in."
