Due to lack of money this was a game I couldn’t manage to get to so rather than summarise what happened from other match reports here’s an excellent report written by QPR fan Justin Pieris on the QPR mailing List.

Same line-up as started v Blackpool in what can only be described as an intimidating Ninian Park. Were our players intimidated ... no way. They were well up for it and gave as good as they got for the whole game.

Pacquette's goal actually came as a bit of a surprise. It was really coolly taken, positioned low into the corner. We played really well and looked the more dangerous when attacking for most of the game, particularly the first half.

The game was very fast tempo and what struck me was the excellence of the passing moves that we managed at such a high pace. At times we were pinging it, one touch from one side of the pitch to the other. Cardiff's best weapon of attack was Andy Leggs unbelievable long throw. His first one was actually thrown at high velocity and low trajectory to the FAR post... incredible.

But Rhys Evans was more than a match for his throws most of the time, collecting cleanly in the air on several occasions. Gallen was linking superbly with Langley again, and Pacquette engineered a number of excellent positions and opportunities for himself.

One that springs to mind, was a little chipped up and under beyond the defence into Pacquette's path in the box. Unfortunately Pacquette failed to convert one on one and indeed missed several other chances. What was really encouraging was that Pacquette was actually getting in the positions, which previously he has failed to do.

Rose and Palmer were really strong in the middle. Palmer in particular had an absolute stormer of a game. The whole team had a really gelled feel about it. When we scored it was fantastic, the fans and players went ballistic and it really helped damp down the singing from the Cardiff fans.

Come the second half and Lawrence made some good changes. I winced when I saw there no 5 Spencer Prior come on. I remember one world-class tackle from him against Leeds. In combination with no 6 Gabbidon, Cardiff have a quality centre-back partnership. Leo Fortune West was also brought on to add some muscle.

The first 20 mins of the second half was our downfall. The crowd really got behind Cardiff - loudest home singing I've heard in this division. It was pretty much backs to the wall stuff as our defence coped with wave after wave of Cardiff attacks. I believe the crowd actually earned Cardiff their equaliser.

It came from a Legg throw-in that should never have gone to Cardiff. The linno actually flagged for a QPR throw, the ref was unsighted as the action was blocked from his view by the players concerned. The linno kept his flag up for a long time, but the ref ignored him. The resultant throw-in led to an aerial melee on the near edge of the box and there appeared to be a Cardiff hand involved. Prior made no mistake with an easy conversion (well we were in Wales).

Those QPR players around were all claiming the handball, but again the ref ignored them. I honestly think the pressure on the ref from the crowd was huge and I think they earned Cardiff that goal. Then the ref completely lost it. Pacquette was penalised for a totally innocuous tackle and unbelievably given a second booking for it - it shouldn't have even been a free-kick.

So sent-off and the QPR bench ( they had a perfect view of the incident) went ballistic. Holloway in particular was absolutely enraged. Trying to get to the ref for at least 3 minutes. He was sent off and later on a Steward and Police got involved when a plastic bottle was allegedly thrown from the QPR bench at the linno. The ref had completely lost control of the game.

At this point, it wouldn't have surprised me if Cardiff didn't go on to win the game. However our ten men were absolute heroes - we actually played better with ten than we did with 11 and took the game to them on several occasions. Every one of them rose to the challenge and the game started to get a bit heated with tackles going in left right and centre.

At this point, there was a very rash challenge from Danny Shittu who steamed across the box and made a last ditch challenge on a Cardiff player bearing down on goal. I think he got the ball and he definitely got the player. The ref blew-up and I feared the worst, but the useless idiot actually gave it outside of the box. It was in by a yard. So he should have given them a pen if he blew-up.

We continued to play at an unbelievably high tempo and had 2 or 3 really good chances on the break. The best fell to Matty Rose right at the end. An exquisite through ball put him through on goal with about 30 yards to run. He got the ball, did everything right, chipped the keeper One on One and it floated agonisingly over the bar. We could easily have won it.

Make no mistake, this was one of the best performances of the season. We were strong, committed, skillful and worked superbly well together as a team. I'm really happy to have been there amongst the loony 400 who made the trip - it was a trip well worth making. It was even worth walking through the Cardiff fans 'welcoming committee' after the game!