Colchester were the visitors to Loftus Road as Rangers tried to win five league games in a row for the first time since 1996 when John Spencer inspired Rangers to wins over Sheffield Utd, Oldham, Southend, Huddersfield and Norwich. It's been a long time to wait to win five games in a row but we now had the chance to do that again and hopefully go back to the top of the table.

Ian Holloway kept an unchanged team for the fourth game in a row after Clarke Carlisle passed a late fitness test. Marc Bircham was missing so Marcus Bean was on the bench along with Paul Furlong who has missed the last four games through injury. Rangers started brightly looking like a team full of confidence.

We passed the ball well in midfield with Forbes and Williams getting forward well out wide. Langley had a few early shots fly just wide but we weren't creating many clear cut chances as Colchester worked hard to defend against us.

Gallen was passing the ball well up front and linking with Oli who looked very dangerous early on. Karl Connolly was also looking bright and creative playing in midfield and seemed to have the freedom to get forward whenever he wanted. The goal didn't come early though and Colchester began to get back in the game.

They enjoyed some good possession and a couple of corners but like Rangers they didn't look like breaking the deadlock. Dennis Oli suffered under a heavy challenge but played on for a while before being taken off. On came Paul Furlong after half an hour to start a different kind of partnership with Gallen. Oli was using his pace and power well but Furlong changed the way we played to hold the ball up more and allow Connolly and Langley to get forward and join the attacks.

A goal almost came after good work by Gallen on the left but his cross was cut out before it could reach Furlong. We didn't wait long for the opening goal though and it was wroth the wait. Connolly broke from midfield again after a good pass by Carlisle set him on his way, Connolly looked to put Furlong in but his pass was blocked. Connolly then had time outside the box and waited until he found a gap before picking his spot and placing an excellent shot into the bottom corner of the net.

It was a cracking finish and it was a goal we badly needed before the crowd began to get frustrated. We went all out for a second goal, Tommy Williams hit a shot just wide and Rose also went close but at half time we were thankful to be in the lead. We needed a second goal to finish the game off and it looked like coming.

We began the second half attacking the loft and Gallen went close with a shot from the edge of the area. We were on top for a while and Gallen again had a chance he created himself turning brilliantly but his shot hit the post and bounced out to the grateful goalkeeper.

An own goal almost won us the game after an excellent cross saw Bowry hit his own post as he desperately tried to clear the danger.

We then had a strange spell in the game where we allowed them lots of possession and almost paid the price as we began to look suspect at the back.

A calamity of errors almost saw Carlisle put through his own net and the result of that saw a corner and more chaos in the Rangers penalty area. Langley and Carlisle had to be separated by teammates as Langley went mad at the defender for his error. It was hard to see what was going on but it took a good few minutes for them to sort it out as they continued to argue and an injury to Tommy Williams gave Ian Holloway the chance to call them both over and sort things out.

It was disappointing to see this happen and I was surprised not to see Steve Palmer sorting this out. Palmer is the club captain and should be calming the two players down but thankfully it was sorted out and we soon killed the game off.

Langley won the ball in midfield and released Connolly who went on a fine run as we broke quickly, He picked out Gallen with a fantastic pass and with time and space, Gallen was just never going to miss in the form he has been in recently.

The relief was evident among the players as the three points looked secure. Gallen had more chances to extend the lead but Brown in the Colchester goal made two excellent saves and from one corner Danny Shittu failed to connect to the ball, which looked destined for him to head into the net.

The game finished without much else happening apart from hearing Cardiff had won to leave us in second place still a good days work and three more points for Rangers.

We now face our most difficult month of the season so far with trips to Crewe and Wigan coming up but if the team continues to work hard and the improvement continues then we have a good chance of getting some points in the upcoming big games.

Man of the Match: Karl Connolly

15. Simon Royce: Didn't have much to do but on the few occasions he was called upon he dealt with the danger well. 7/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Much better distribution from Terrell and he is possibly the best defender at the club. 7/10

33. Tommy Williams: Much better defensive display in this game and also got forward to create a few chances. 7/10

4. Steve Palmer: A pretty solid game, looked better in defence than in midfield where he seemed to spend a lot of the second half. 7/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Excellent pass for the first goal and helped calm the defence down in the second half. 7/10

6. Danny Shittu: Another solid game for Danny who is getting better all the time. 7/10

7. Matthew Rose: Not his best game as he gave the ball away to often and still turns his on passes aimed for him but he's playing miles better than he was at the start of the season and appears to be growing in confidence again. 6/10

11. Karl Connolly: Another very good performance and he deserved his goal. He looks a different player to the one who looked like a 70 year old at orient a few weeks ago. 8/10

9. Richard Langley: Worked hard to win the ball as well as distribute it in midfield. He was unlucky not to score with one of his early shots on goal. 7/10

20. Dennis Oli: Worked hard but slowed down after taking a knock and Holloway was right to take him off. 6/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Another impressive performance, he was quiet in the first half but got better as the game wore on. 7/10

29. Paul Furlong: Held the ball up with Gallen and was unlucky not to score. He looked a bit rusty though which is no surprise as he has been out injured for a few weeks.