Despite the ground only being half full there was a tremendous atmosphere in the stadium for this match. Cardiff brought around 1,800 fans to the game and really got behind their team, singing almost non-stop throughout. In the Upper Loft it was business as usual as we tried our best to get behind the team and it made for an exciting evening.

Good job the atmosphere was good as the game was pretty dull. Ian Holloway had the rare pleasure of naming an unchanged side after Alex Bonnot failed a fitness test.

Neither side did much for the first half an hour or so with the match being dominated by sloppy passes and tough tackling. In fact it was very similar to the Port Vale game and you had the feeling something 'eventful' was going to happen in this match.

Soon enough it did as Daniel Gabbidon ran through and Chris Day came out to block the run and push the ball out for a corner. The linesman flagged for a corner, but the referee ignored this and gave a penalty. Gabbidon had fallen over Day but it didn’t appear that any contact had been made and the linesman didn’t bother to flag the referee to tell him he had made a bad decision.

It was made even stranger as Chris Day was the last man and the referee failed to even book him. Not that I wanted Day sent off but if he’s given the penalty he should at least show a yellow card but I think the ref knew he had made a mistake but didn’t want to change his mind.

Anyway Graham Kavanagh stepped up and blasted his spot kick past Day as the Rangers fans sang “1-0 to the referee” and Cardiff had taken the lead.

The rest of the half became a scrappy affair and Cardiff fans had the cheek to sing “What’s it like to see a crowd” to QPR fans. Err, quite normal really as we’ve been in the top two divisions for over 30 years and you’ve struggled to get out of the second and third. Also I thought Bristol City, Reading and Stoke all brought more fans than they did to Loftus Road this season so I don’t know what they were bragging about.

Back to the football and at half time I was chatting in the bar with a few mates about the penalty and I was certain that if a QPR player went down in the box we’d get a penalty but none of us thought any of our players could do a convincing dive but as it turned out they didn’t have to. Holloway made one change at half time bringing on Dou Dou for Karl Connolly and straight away we looked more dangerous.

Dou Dou was running at Cardiff and almost put Andy Thomson in once and had a shot himself on a different occasion. The referee then made his second controversial decision of the night after Andy Thomson was tripped in the box, but a penalty seemed harsh.

The Cardiff players went mad but it seemed the referee was just making matters even, although two wrongs don’t exactly make a right. Andy Thomson took a cool run up and side footed it past the keeper to send the Loft into wild celebrations.

After that we continued with the pressure but Cardiff did have one good chance as Kavannagh headed over.

But we soon took the lead with an excellent goal. Christer Warren left most of the QPR fans stunned with a surging run through the midfield and put Thomson in who hit a superb curling shot over the keeper and into the net.

Rangers fans hugged each other and celebrated as if we had won the cup final as the team once again showed the tremendous character we now have along with some skill and ability. Leroy Griffiths then tried to get in on the act with a stunning shot which was brilliantly saved by the keeper and he tried the same again from a corner but shot just over.

Dou Dou was still causing problems and Andy Thomson had a half chance for his hat trick when a cross was pushed away by Prior's hand but the ref didn’t give a third penalty.

The game then had a long delay as Cardiff fans threw bottles at Chris Day and the QPR players in a throw back to the not so great days of the 70’s and 80’s. The police and stewards were as useless as ever and when the game re-started it meant we had to have five minutes of injury time.

As those minutes approached it looked as if Cardiff would get a second goal as they poured forward but the defence held firm. Cardifff's best chance came when a free kick from outside the box was curled around the wall but Chris Day pulled off an excellent save. Holloway sensed we were in trouble on the left so took off Warren and brought on Wardley.

This meant Bignot went to left back and we held on for another victory against one of the fancied teams for promotion. An excellent night's work by Rangers and another fully deserved three points.

Man of the Match: Terrell Forbes

Players Ratings

1. Chris Day: Made some more excellent saves and is looking to be a very confident goalkeeper. 7/10

17. Terrell Forbes: Hardly puts a foot wrong, always wants the ball and tries to get forward and help the forwards. 9/10

15. Christer Warren: One of his best games for the club. Great run for the goal and deserves credit for tonight’s performance. 7/10

4. Steve Palmer: What more can you say about Palmer? I really can’t believe how good he is. 8/10

28. Aziz Ben Askar: His distribution was not as good as it could be but defensively he was superb. 8/10

10. Karl Connolly: Very poor and not really involved at all. 5/10

11. Marcus Bignot: Runs his heart out in midfield and will play anywhere to help the team. 7/10 12.Matthew Rose: Makes the odd mistake but improved as the game wore on. 7/10

2. Mark Perry: Another solid game, sticks to his job well and it’s good to see him playing well in the first team. 7/10

27. Andy Thomson: Give Thommo the ball around the 18 yard box and something will happen, once again two chances and two goals. 8/10

14. Leroy Griffiths: Worked so hard up front and his movement and workrate is creating a lot of chances for his teammates. 7/10

Subs

29. Dou Dou: Changed the game when he came on and deserves a goal. 8/10

7. Stuart Wardley: On in injury time, didn’t have time to do much. 7/10