Lee Cook has backed centre half Damion Stewart to be crowned as the QPR Player of the Season at the awards dinner in April. Elsewhere there is news of Jordi Lopez, Radek Cerny and Hogan Ephraim among others.

Cook won the club’s player of the year award in his last full season at Rangers before joining Fulham, and has this week backed Jamaican centre half Damion Stewart to take the crown from Martin Rowlands. Stewart is the clear favourite for the award after an outstanding season of consistent performances at the back with only Kaspars Gorkss and possibly Radek Cerny and Gavin Mahon posing any kind of challenge in my opinion.

Cook told the Kilburn Times: “I think one of the old boys has really been the most outstanding player this year, and that is Damion Stewart. This is his third year and this is the best he has played by far - Damion is in great form. He's solid at the back for us and I think you can tell that by the amount of clean sheets that we are keeping. At the back we've got Stewart, Kaspars Gorkss - who has come in and done well - and obviously you've got Fitz Hall. The defence are playing really well, but I would say that it is Damion who has been outstanding so far."

New signing Jordi Lopez could be set for a debut this Saturday night when Rangers take on Ipswich live on Sky Sports. The Spanish midfielder signed on a free transfer on Tuesday after a short trial with the club and believes he can cope with the physical side of the English game.

Lopez said: “QPR have now given me the opportunity to do this, and it is my aim to show the club that they have made the right decision by granting me this chance. Being a creative player doesn't mean I can't handle the fight and the more physical side of the English game. I am ready for that and just want to get on with doing my best for QPR, because I know there is not much time for me to adapt, as there's only three months left of the season. My motivation is at the highest possible point. I am ready to play my part in helping the club reach the play-offs. That is the target for us all.”

With the Lee Camp saga finally dying down it remains to be seen whether he or Radek Cerny takes to the field this weekend against Ipswich. Cerny is still struggling with a hamstring injury and is rated as doubtful at the moment which could mean Lee Camp will keep his place despite his mistake and after match comments at Nottingham Forest last week.

Cerny said: “I had a similar injury in pre-season and now it's happened again. In my football life I've never had many injuries, but hopefully I'll get through this and everything will be okay. I don't think it matters who is in the team - every player has to work hard anyway. My experience is that you always have to give 100 per cent and if you do this, good things will come.

"Our aim is to finish in the top six and we still have the chance to do it," Cerny observed. "But there are still 15 games until the finish, lots of points and anything could happen. Before the season began we were talking about the aim to take 10 points from every six games. The manager hasn't said anything about how many points we need, but the chairman mentioned 77.”

Elsewhere Hogan Ephraim has been talking to the club’s official website about his return to the first team and the run in. He said: “The manager`s come in he gave me a new lease of life. He`s played me in a slightly different position but I feel I`ve adapted to it quite well and it`s going well so touch wood it stays like that. It`s this time of the season you find out who your players are really, because the pressure is on and the manager will look for that. He will want to see who can take responsibility, so we are all under pressure to do well. It is going to be a tough three games but we go out to get the three points every game, but obviously you`ll have to look at other results and if you`ve got seven to nine points you`d be quite happy.

We will take one game at a time but if we can start with a win on Saturday and then build from there it`ll be a great boost. Since I have been here we have always done well in Sky games, so that should bode well for us. We are at home so the fans should be behind us and it`s a good game. Ipswich are a good footballing side as well so it`ll be a good contest and a game we have to win."

Looking ahead to next week at Barnsley the home side will be missing key figures Jamal Campbell Ryce and Darren Moore through suspension. The absence of Campbell Ryce is a big boost to QPR’s chances, Rangers often struggle to cope with the tricky winger, but the suspension of Moore is probably more of a blow to us than it is to Barnsley as he looks increasingly out of his depth at this level.

In former R’s news keep an eye on the Tottenham match in the Ukraine tonight as Dean Parrett may be set for his Spurs debut. The QPR youth team graduate moved to White Hart Lane 18 months ago but this is his first involvement in the first team squad as Harry Redknapp looks to juggle his resources and compete on three fronts.

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