Glen Kamara's first goal for Queens Park Rangers earned them a hard-fought victory against Lincoln City at Loftus Road.

Richard Kone had opened the scoring with an early header for the hosts, only for Dom Jefferies to bring the Imps level before the break with a cool finish at the end of a slick counter-attack.

Both sides threatened numerous times to take the lead after that, but it was not until Kamara turned in the box and fired home with 10 minutes remaining the the game was decided.

Victory ensures QPR go into the international break in the play-off places, while the defeat was Lincoln's third in a row to leave them just above the relegation spots in 21st place.

Ivory Coast international Kone nodded home his fifth goal in four games to open the scoring in West London, leaping highest to meet a header back into the box from Boy Kemper after the Imps failed to clear a searching cross to the back post.

Lincoln hit back in fine style, with Yunus Konak linking up with Freddie Draper who then slid a perfectly weighted pass for Jefferies to race onto before he dinked his finish over onrushing home keeper Pierce Charles.

The visitors were unfortunate not to lead soon after, as Reeco Hackett and Sonny Bradley both had attempts cleared off the line.

Paul Smyth went on to test George Wickens after the interval, while Adam Reach sent the Imps' best chance over the bar in the 63rd minute.

Ilias Chair came off the bench to play a crucial role in the victory, feeding the ball to Kamara in the box and he did well to find the bottom corner.

QPR head coach Julien Stephan told BBC Radio London:

"It's a big win for us. We knew it could be tough game and it was tough.

"They way that they play, it's always a fight against them and it was important to take control quickly at the beginning of the game. And that's what the players did perfectly in the first 20 or 25 minutes.

"We had full control but unfortunately after just one little mistake we conceded and the game changed a little bit in five or six minutes as they created momentum.

"We needed to speak with a lot of calm at half-time just to reassure the players.

"Even if the first five or six minutes of the second half were little difficult it was important to restart with the same desire to be dominant, to control the game and control the ball.

"They kept their confidence and continued to play in the same way and they scored a beautiful second goal – not only the finish, and not only the pass from Ilias Chair, but all the movement for me was perfect from the beginning of the situation."

Lincoln City joint head coach Chris Cohen told BBC Radio Lincolnshire:

"The first 30 minutes was probably not up to our normal starts to games and how we want to get after it in terms of our aggression and personality.

"We found our way back into the game with a brilliant goal and started to look like we can have a big chance to score the second. We then start the second half with a nice bit of intent and then their quality shone.

"We tried to survive, and we have done that a little bit too much this season. And we have shown multiple times now that just trying to survive, while we were maybe able to do that last year when the level of quality wasn't the same, it's not the way you can get results in matches in the Championship.

"The performances over the last week haven't been what we would expect, and we all have a little time to reflect and to go away and work as hard as we possibly can because we have shown that we can perform really well at this level and create good results. Over the past week it hasn't quite been to our normal standards."