Neil Warnock, the Queens Park Rangers manager, admits that he has yet to master the pronunciation of Adel Taarabt’s name. But he already knows the value of the man he calls “Tarbs” to a team who have won both their Coca-Cola Championship matches since Warnock took over eight days ago.

Taarabt — in his second spell at Loftus Road on loan from Tottenham Hotspur — was on the pitch for only 72 minutes last night, but the ovation as he left it told the story of the match.

The Morocco midfield player had opened the scoring from the penalty spot with his sixth goal of the season, provided the assist for Damion Stewart to head the second and been a thorn in the side of a Plymouth Argyle team who were beaten far more convincingly than the score suggests.

“I knew he’d got a lot of ability,” Warnock said. “Harry [Redknapp, the Tottenham manager] said, ‘You’ll pull your hair out at times,’ but I think I’m the right type of manager for him, if I’m honest. I believe in him and he’s working as hard as he’s ever worked.”

Two errors by Kari Arnason gave QPR the advantage at half-time. First, the Iceland defender headed Alan Judge’s free kick over the bar when unmarked, then he wrestled Tamas Priskin to the ground. Taarabt converted the inevitable penalty kick.

Taarabt was enjoying himself immensely, getting on the ball as much as possible and taking on defenders. And his dead-ball delivery was spot-on four minutes into the second half, when his inswinging free kick from the left allowed Stewart to glance home his first goal of the season.

Taarabt tried to add more goals with shots from distance and although his accuracy did not match his ambition, QPR were not in the mood to let Plymouth off the hook.

“We knew Plymouth would fight for their lives, but the centre halves were outstanding,” Warnock said.

“It’s the first clean sheet in 25 matches, I’ve been told. I’m sure that’s right because it was the centre halves who told me.”

Plymouth remain seven points from safety. “We need to keep clean sheets and score goals, but it’s easier said than done,” Paul Mariner, the manager, said.

“David Stockdale hasn’t had to make a save and we’ve lost 2-0.

“It was a terrible penalty to give away and a free header on the far post is unforgivable.”