Against all expectations, today was arguably Rangers' best performance of the season so far - against the best side I have seen in the division by a very long way. Rangers made seven changes from last week's defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, and it made for a more confident display, in which they defended solidly and counter-attacked if not to great effect, certainly more encouragingly than most of the games on our travels of late.

A lot of Rangers play went down the middle, with Rose (much as he did at Barnsley last season) being the link man between defence and attack - a role he clearly relished, and he returned his best game in a very long time. In fact, this was as near to Rangers best XI. Darlington and Baraclough returned to the side and with Carlisle and the under-rated Plummer playing behind the roving Rose, the defence not only looked and felt solid, they played as such.

Yet it still needed an outstanding display from Miklosko to keep Rovers at bay, and Ludo provided a faultless display, including the penalty quite rightly awarded for handball. Surprisingly, Gerry dropped Connolly, easily the most consistent performer in the last six games, to recall Wardley, who played on the right, alongside Langley and Peacock.

Although not brilliant, Langley showed how much we missed him last week, Peacock was Peacock and Wardley was Wardley - workmanlike, a little off the pace at times, but they both earned their money. Up front, Rangers started with Koejoe and Lisbie. Of the two, Sammy provided by far the most, putting in a couple of decent shots and making himself a nuisance, although without ever seriously looking like he might score.

Lisbie was just not involved, and should have gone off a lot sooner than for the ten minutes Gerry gave Connolly in his place. With Crouch missing, the only long balls Rangers hit were into space (not up into!) for a bright yellow shirt to run on to. And it was so much better to watch.

Bright yellow? Shome mishtake shurely? No, Rangers unexpectedly turned out in a bright, almost flourescent all-yellow strip. Why, no-one seemed to know, but the serious point to it all was that they could at least pick each other out, unlike I believe with the black and silver hoops, which I believe cause them problems. Blackburn were very, very good. Their passing and movement was second to none I've seen this season. If Duff was brilliant, Marcus Bent was sublime, and he appears to have improved again since leaving Sheffield United. Without question the best individual performance against Rangers all season.

But that Rangers not only tried to match Rovers but had them on the backfoot for periods during the second-half especially gives this correspondent a good deal more hope than I had this morning. There were around 400 QPR there, many of whom had been in the Fernhurst before the game. I just love away games where Rangers fans just take over the pub. Consequently, the atmosphere both before and during the game was superb.

There was trouble at half-time, though - yet again involving stewards. I don't know all the ins and outs of what led up to it, but it seems that one of the stewards punched a Rangers fan full in the face. Okay, so he was being ejected and probably not going quietly, but what about minimum force and all that? Not surprisingly it all kicked off, with the police moving in and needing to restore order, m'Lud. Having been on the wrong end of some arrogant stewarding at Hillsborough last week, and of course witnessed at first hand in the past how power seems to go to the head of some of these people, it doesn't surprise me at all that so many Rangers fans witnessed the steward punching this guy. Too often they are just thugs in flourescent jackets themselves, and their manner all too often antagonistic.

Anyway, no-one ever disputed that the return of players such as Baraclough, Darlington and Plummer would make a difference to the team, but that's only half the story. The 4-1-3-2 formation was spot on, and playing it on the floor made us look an entirely different side to last week. Play like this over the next few weeks and the results will come - and we will easily climb out of trouble.

Ironically, with Stockport winning, we have slipped into the bottom two. If you're simply results-led, then you can wail and gnash your teeth for a week. Me? I'll take a decent performance and dropped points any day over a lucky win achieved in dismal fashion. For once, Rangers haven't ruined my weekend, and I for one am going to make the most of it.