"It was a good workout for the lads," said Ray Wilkins.
The Chelsea assistant coach took the post-match press conference in place of boss Carlo Ancelotti.
"He (Wilkins) was a bit rusty," said a Chelsea aide when asked why Ancelotti did not attend. Presumably meaning that Ray needed the run out.
"Carlo has not snubbed the press," an almost apologetic Wilkins said.
Moving on to the main business of the night, rusty or not, Ray talked smoothly about how his side overcame their west London rivals.
"QPR played well. And the lads coming back from injury were excellent.
"In the past we have always wanted to play the kids, and the likes of Sam Hutchinson and Fabio Borini have shown in training that they are pushing hard for a start."
But it wasn't all plain sailing and Wilkins admitted as much; "We used Ashley [Cole], Frank [Lampard] and John [Terry] to shore things up at the end.
It's a delicate PR exercise the Carling Cup.
Chelsea in the past have used nearly their strongest side in this competition and Wilkins reiterated the tried and tested statement; "We want to win everything we enter. If we can blood people along the way then we will.
As for Joe Cole - out for nine months, Wilkins said: Joe did well. He worked hard to get back to the level where he can play professi9onal football."
Ancelotti decided to make Cole captain.
"I think he wanted to continue with the English tradition," said Wilkins.
2It was between Joe and Paulo Ferreira and he chose Joe."
QPR boss Jim Magilton was full of praise for his side: "I was proud of my team and the supporters," he said.
"Whoever Chelsea put in their shirt is a good player. But I played two up front as I felt that was the best way to get at them.