A first away game of the season for me and as usual train delays mean the day starts off on a bad note. We still ended up at the ground well in time for kick off and with the weather being so hot a nice cold beer was in order.

Amazingly though Barnsley do not serve alcohol in the away end and it was a warm coke instead to great the first Saturday away game of the season. Waiting for the game to start I noticed many people backing Mike Sheron for first goalscorer, the main comment seemed to be "well he's shit but bound to score against us", I didn't disagree and put my money on him and Danny Shittu for first goalscorers.

As the players came off from the warm up the fans shouted Urrr's and I watched Clarke Carlisle walking off and he shouted "Come on you superhoopsa", it was good to see a QPR player who seems so happy to be here.

The teams came out to a good ovation from the 1,000 or so QPR fans. Rangers were unchanged with Padula and Dennis Oli among the substitutes. Barnsley started the better side and put us under pressure early on. Sheron was playing ok passing the ball well but they didn't really look like scoring as the defence was looking quite good.

After about ten minutes we settled down and started playing some excellent stuff. Bircham was fighting for everything in midfield and showed he is more than just a battler with some excellent passing. Langley was showing some great touches leaving defenders trailing behind him and linking well with Terrell but the final ball was disappointing.

The chances began to come though as Karl Connolly and Williams linked well on the left and Gallen headed wide of the post. Gallen was looking excellent holding the ball up and then playing some delightfull passes out wide to Forbes but he was guilty of missing some great chances during this spell.

Langley was opening them up at will and one good move saw a cross evade Furlong and Connolly latched onto it and placed a great cross in for Gallen who was unmarked but he totally misjudged the cross and took an air shot at it. The chance was gone and no one could believe it.

Gallen seemed desperate to make up for the miss and had a good shot saved but the rebound seemed like a certain goal with the keeper on the floor.Gallen rushed his shot and blazed over and you got the feeling this was not Kevin Gallen's day. We were well on top though enjoying almost all of the possession and Connolly had another header flash over the bar before Barnsley began to come back into the game.

Some confusion in our defence almost proved costly. Culkin doesn't seem to communicate to well with his defence and that led to confusion between him and Shittu on more than one occasion. Luckily Barnsley never looked like taking advantage until Dyer got away from Palmer and his deflected shot hit the bar. Palmer had been doing excellently against Dyer but the Barnsley striker is very quick and proved to be a real handful at times.

At half time Rangers were content though as we looked the better side and a win looked on the cards. An injury to Furlong though changed things as Padula came on to play on the left with Connolly going up front.

This decsion enraged the bloke behind me who spend the rest of the game stating that Holloway had lost the plot (and spitting all over Carly - yuck!). Some of his comments about Rose, Langley and Gallen made me wonder if Matt Doran had taken Stars Wars 2 :Attack of the Clones to seriously and had cloned himself to moan at players twice as much. Seriously though the amount of abuse coming from this bloke was amazing especially as we were still on top and it was 0-0.

The only answer Barnsley had to stop us was to kick players and another foul on Langley saw us almost take the lead. Langley hit a brilliant free kick but Andy Marriot tipped the ball over from just under the crossbar. The corner came to nothing but we were soon behind after a swift counterattack.

Dyer got away from Palmer but palmer and Forbes did well to recover and prevent him from shooting, the lay off by Dyer should have seen a midfield player clear the ball but instead Lumsdon fired in the opening goal of the game. From my view at the other end I though Culkin should have saved it but it's hard to tell without seeing it again on tv.

After that the expected swift response from rangers never really came. Karl Connolly went close with a free kick but in truth the keeper would have to be useless not save it. Tommy Williams then went off as Doudou came on to change things and he did inspire a good spell but the final ball again was not good enough.

Gallen had one last chance as he spun away brilliantly from his man and hit a decent shot but the keeper saved and as the ball looked like it would roll in the defence cleared.It was here that we missed someone like Andy Thomson to be looking to convert the follow up. On so many occasions we put crosses in but the lack of bodies in the box meant it was to easy for Barnsley and all the good work in midfield was wasted up front.

Barnsley had a few chances on the break as Culkin made two excellent saves one at Dyers feet and one he pushed round the post from Rankin or it might have been Dyer, oh who cares. One last gasp chance came in injury time as a Connolly corner found Langley unmarked but his header went over from ten yards and that was it game over.

Some fans saw fit to boo the team off but the majority gave a standing ovation to the team. We had played well but failed to take our chances something, which we need to change if we want to go up this season. At least the players seem to care though, Shittu and Gallen looked devastated as they left the pitch but the injury to Paul Furlong is the main worry as we are now short of options up front.

13. Nick Culkin: Far from impressive as he didn't look sure of himself on crosses and stayed on his line to often. He did make a few good saves though in the second half. 6/10

2. Terrell Forbes: You know what you get from Terrell, as strong and quick as ever and his reading of the game is also improving. If only he could cross like David Bardsley then we would have the perfect right back. 7/10

33. Tommy Williams: A decent game from Williams, he got forward well and linked with Connolly but faded in the second half perhaps due to injury. 6/10

4. Steve Palmer: For most of the game he had Dyer in his pocket but he let him get away twice and that proved to be fatal. Still one of the best defenders we have though. 7/10

6. Danny Shittu: Shittu against Sheron was embarrassing at times, Sheron spent most of the game appealing for penalties before being taken off. Danny needs to be more of a threat at corners though, his size should make it impossible for teams to deal with but he doesn't seem to utilise his strengths going forward. 7/10

11. Karl Connolly: Very bright in the first half when he had the ball but like so many others he faded in the second half when we needed a goal. 6/10

7. Matthew Rose: I'll leave others to comment on him, needless to say he's not doing his case for a regular starting place much good with performances like this. 5/10

8. Marc Bircham: "We love you Bircham, because you've got Blue Hair" is what the fans didn't sign to him but he still played well anyway. I thought he looked better than he did last week and his non-stop work rate has made him very popular already. 8/10

9. Richard Langley: A close second for man of the match. His skill is great to see but he also gets stuck in when he needs to. One of our most talented players but fades out of the game to often when played on the wing. 7/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Outside the penalty box he was excellent passing the ball well and keeping possession but he missed four great chances the kind of which we can't afford to waste. 7/10

29. Paul Furlong: Did ok in the first half using his strength well and we didn't look as good after he went off. 7/10

3. Gino Padula: Not a great debut but didn't do much wrong. 6/10

12. Doudou: Caused a few problems with his pace and dribbling skills but he still doesn't pass enough and he faded after a bright start. 6/10