'We're on a journey, and everyone is excited'

Queens Park Rangers forward Paul Smyth says the squad are "on a journey" in their first season under manager Julien Stephan.

Saturday's 2-1 win at Bristol City stretched their unbeaten run to six matches, and took the side that finished 15th last season into the play-off places.

"I think everyone can see from the outside in that it's a positive group, and the mentality is to just keep it going game by game. We're on a journey, and everyone is excited to be on that journey," Smyth told BBC Radio London.

Stephan, the 44-year-old former Rennes and Strasbourg boss, arrived in the summer to replace Marti Cifuentes.

"We've got a lot of good individuals and a collective squad," Smyth added. "As you can see, we're gelling really well, and the manager's got us playing a way that we're all enjoying ourselves."

QPR's unbeaten run began following a 7-1 thrashing away to Championship leaders Coventry City in August, and Smyth is proud of their response.

"In football it happens, it was a freak result, it happens in every league. We learnt a lot from that game to where we are now, six games unbeaten," he added.

"That's not in the back of the boys' minds. The way we're playing we can just keep going, pushing on forward. Its nice to go into the international break with three points, and look forward to Millwall at home."

Smyth was injured scoring in their Championship win against Charlton Athletic at the end of August, and has been a substitute in their past three matches.

"It would be nice to start, but it's the manager's choice to choose the team that goes out there and plays," he said. "We go into every game thinking we can win, because we know we're a good team."