DEFEATS as cruel as this don’t come along very often but when they do, you find out a lot more about the man in charge.

Life doesn’t get any easier for Neil Lennon in the Wanderers hot-seat as the clocks ticks towards a first year in the job.

Just as he thought he’d got his defensive problems licked, they re-appeared en masse at Loftus Road, and meant his team were unable to protect a 2-0 lead or see out a point at three goals apiece.

That Wanderers left empty-handed was more a product of his players’ naivety than anything Lennon had done, and yet for the first time some fans are asking that he be held accountable for the latest disappointment in a poor run of form that has stretched through much of 2015.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s 94th minute goal, his second of the game, was fit to win any match yet had referee Darren Drysdale blown his whistle 30 seconds earlier we may well have been discussing a gutsy point.

Gary Madine and Liam Feeney had given Lennon’s side a shockingly easy 2-0 lead within 11 minutes but for the next hour Emmanuel-Thomas, Lery Fer and Tjarron Chery took advantage of some schoolboy defending to carve out a 3-2 scoreline that eased some pressure on embattled Hoops boss Chris Ramsey.

Wellington Silva sprung off the bench to score six minutes from full time and earn his team a point, or so it seemed. But the Brazilian winger was then implicated in injury time as Wanderers surrendered possession then territory as QPR helped themselves to a dramatic winner.

Lennon has spent much of the game snarling in disgust at referee Drysdale – to whom he aimed a rather unsavoury accusation of bias after the final whistle – and turning his face away in pain as his team consistently marred their good work with bad.

The manager’s assessment of the Lincolnshire referee was correct, Drysdale was dreadful. As an RAF sergeant by day, the referee may have enjoyed J.E.T’s winner, but Lennon was unwise to make his feelings that plain in public.

His words were from the heart, or another part of one’s anatomy, but he knew the official played only a minor part in his team’s downfall.

As a player or manager Lennon has not been accustomed to failure and is clearly wrestling with the concept as problems stack up at Wanderers.

Last weekend he had been dancing down the touchline in joy after Gary Madine’s header salvaged a point against Brighton, this weekend the crushing disappointment of the result was etched on his face clear as day.

If Lennon thought he needed a thick skin at Celtic, he may require a coat of armour to see out the foreseeable at Bolton, although support from within the club is unequivocal.

Away form has been an issue through much of the manager’s time at Bolton but everything was right with the world in the opening 11 minutes on Saturday.

Madine made it two goals in two with a great header from Feeney’s cross and is looking back to the form he showed at the start of the season.

Feeney then doubled the lead, taking his own personal tally to three for the campaign after springing from a suspiciously offside position to tap home after Darren Pratley’s shot had been spilled by Rob Green.

Within two minutes Wanderers allowed the hosts back into it and gave a glimpse of the defensive problems to come. Prince-Desire Gouano lost out in the air, Dean Moxey slashed at a clearance and Fracesco Pisano allowed Chery to swing a cross in for Emmanuel-Thomas to get between the two centre-halves and head past Ben Amos.

For the opening half hour the decision to bring Pratley back into the team looked a good one. His physical presence allowed Wanderers to play higher up the pitch and Mark Davies to move into a more advanced role.

Max Clayton struggled to have the same impact as he had against Brighton last week and as the half wore on, QPR saw more and more of the ball.

Nedum Onuoha brought a save out of Amos with a header from Daniel Tozser’s free kick and could have seen red for a bad foul on Mark Davies which went mysteriously unpunished by ref Drysdale.

Moments later Pisano was clattered in front of the dugouts by Paul Konchesky, prompting a volcano-like reaction from Lennon, who then withdrew the Italian at the break for David Wheater and moved Prince to right-back.

QPR had already drawn themselves level. Amos spilled Fer’s header and while he tried hard to make amends, the Dutchman eventually managed to stab the ball over the line.

With the tone of the game completely changed QPR went on to take the lead.

Prince’s half-clearance fell to Chery 25 yards out and with Pratley slow to react, the winger curled in a delightful strike inside the far post.

Within two minutes Pratley was substituted, the decision to play him suddenly being called into question.

The Hoops should have extended that lead to four after Matty Phillips broke through and dragged a shot wide. Amos also made one brilliant full-length save from sub Sandro.

It was only once Wellington was introduced did Wanderers look likely to find an equaliser and the on-loan Arsenal man produced a moment of magic, cutting inside Onuoha to rifle home his first goal in English football with six minutes to go.

That should have been it. Point gained, talk about how Wanderers would never have fought back under a previous regime.

But instead some poor choices in possession deep into injury time allowed QPR to break, Emmanuel-Thomas to beat Dorian Dervite all ends up and curl in another superb goal.

QPR may have more than double the budget but they were by no means double the team.

Ref Drysdale did have a nightmare but he was not the reason Wanderers lost this game.

Lennon has to find answers from within before his team next take the field at Burnley – a place where defeat like this would sting 10 times more.

Reputations are earned in good times and bad, so now is the time to dig deep for all concerned.