(CNN) -- New Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp believes he squeezed the most out of the Premier League's bottom side as his reign began with a 0-0 draw at Sunderland.
Even a win would not have been enough to lift the London club off the foot of the table but the draw did increase their tally to five points from 14 games after avoiding defeat for the first time in seven away games.
"I don't have a magic wand and all I can do is get the best out of what I've got -- and I got that tonight," said the former Tottenham Hotspur manager after the game.
Touted as a potential England manager earlier this year, Redknapp replaced Mark Hughes last week after the Welsh coach was dismissed with QPR making the worst start to a season in over twenty years of the Premier League.
Redknapp has identified a lack of hard work as lying behind the fact that QPR are still the only one of English football's 92 clubs to have failed to win a league match all season.
"You can't win football matches if you get outworked by the opposition -- and everybody worked their socks off, which was important. You can't ask for any more, so that is encouraging for the future."
"I am feeling a bit more optimistic. They showed a good attitude, there's a good spirit in the dressing room and they realized they can get good reward for working hard."
Elsewhere, Aston Villa climbed out of the bottom three after a late Christian Benteke was enough to win 1-0 at home to Reading and move up to 17th in the table.
In Germany, the three teams closest to league leaders Bayern Munich suffered disappointing evenings.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who have been performing so well in the Champions League, failed to make up ground on the Bavarians after they were held 1-1 at home by a late goal by Fortuna Dusseldorf, who were reduced to ten men in the dying moments.
Seeking a fifth straight win, Borussia now trail Bayern, who can extend their lead when traveling to Freiburg on Wednesday, by eight points ahead of the enticing clash between the top two in Munich on Saturday.
After the final whistle in Dortmund, Dusseldorf's director of sport Wolf Werner stopped his team's jubilant players from talking to German Sky Sports, angrily claiming that the broadcaster had "belittled" the team in the past.
Schalke stayed third in the table after losing 3-1 at Hamburg, while fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at home to Mainz.
There was just one game in Serie A in Italy, where fifth-placed Lazio won 3-0 at home against Udinese.
Via: QPR earn point upon Redknapp debut
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