Northampton scored their first goal at home in more than nine and a quarter hours of football, but it couldn't prevent them slipping into the Division Two relegation zone.
Manager Terry Fenwick was hoping to taste victory for the first time as Sixfields boss and Brent Rahim's 16th minute goal looked like achieving that for a while against his manager's old club.
Paul Furlong equalised on the hour to extend Rangers impressive away sequence . Before this match, they had won 5 of their previous six games.
Fenwick said: "I thought we were excellent in the first half and we have dug in deep against a good side." He was disappointed with Furlong's equaliser, claiming: "Marco Gabbiadini was flat on his back on half way at the time and I thought it was an awful decision. The QPR fans have got on to the referee and he has shown weakness." Rahim's opener arrived when Gabbiadini sprung the offside trap on the right before cutting inside to pick out the Trinidadian international who volleyed in his first goal for the club on only his fourth appearance.
Rangers had chances to level in the first half with top scorer Kevin Gallen glancing a header wide and then racing on to a through pass from Terrell Forbes before missing the target with just Glyn Thopmson to beat.
Thompson excelled himself after the break, twice denying both Gallen & Furlon , the best of his saves coming in the 74th minute at full stretch to keep out Gallen's rasping drive.
By then, Rangers were level. Skipper Steve Palmer found Furlong clear inside the area and he scored with a measured shot.
That was the turning point as only seconds before Palmer had headed a Rahim free-kick towards his own goal forcing Nick Culkin to make a dramatic save.
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