Ranger's biggest game of the season so far and it was a very nervous afternoon for everyone. It was an exciting afternoon though especially for me as I was asked by A Kick up the R's editor Dave Thomas to hand out his player of the year award on the pitch before the game.

I was thrilled to do this especially as the winner was Kevin Gallen and as it was a special day I went for the Marc Bircham style blue hoop hair cut which I've been on about doing it all season and this seemed a good day to do it.

We arrived at Loftus Road just before 2pm to get the trophy off Dave Thomas and get in the ground early to make the presentation. I have to say I was more nervous about this than the actual game but all the nerves soon went as we got going.

Geraldine Field greeted me at the reception and I did a bit of star spotting seeing Frank Sibley turn up to collect some tickets. Then it was off to the pitch via the players tunnel.

I was a proud man walking down the tunnel and seeing Gino sign autographs before the changing room door opened and there was the man himself Kevin Gallen. Before I could pledge my love to the man himself I heard a call from behind me shouting out "Oh yes, love the Barnett".

I turned round and it was Marc Bircham himself complimenting my poor mans copy of his legendary hair colour. Marc was a top bloke, exactly what you'd expect and I managed to get his autograph.

I was completely in awe of the players like a little kid. Steve Palmer, Dan Shittu, Clarke Carlisle and Marcus Bean all came out to say hello along with Gavin Peacock who is a top bloke. Ian Holloway was his usual self chatting with kids and then having a talk with Dario Gradi.

As the presentation got ready to start. I looked around the ground, which was pretty empty and got Goosebumps as we got ready to start. It wasn't running smoothly though as no one could find Kevin Gallen as he was off signing autographs and doing his warm up. Richard Pacquette was called over instead and given his young player of the year award before Marcus Bean picked up his for LSA young player of the year.

It was all a bit confusing what was happening before Kevin came running over. He had won virtually all the awards so go them one by one but as the running order had changed the poor tannoy guy didn't seem to know which one was which.

Then came the big moment as Geraldine called me onto the pitch. Kevin said to me "There's nothing like great organisation eh?" which made me laugh anyway and asked what the award was for. After telling him we posed for a picture and that was it before for some reason I asked Kevin if he wanted to look at the award again before I took it back which he looked a bit embarrassed about.

So that was it, my 25 seconds of fame over with and I loved every bit of it. Being right down there with the players and even speaking to some of them was a great honour for me. Dan Shittu was around and Gavin Peacock gave him a lego trophy as a joke, which was quite amusing. Shittu is huge up close, he is twice as wide as everyone else who ran out and most of the players had a chat with Peacock before warming up.

Peacock was in a good mood and said he hoped we'd win today so I wished him luck with his testimonial and thanked him for his service to the club. He said "No thanks you for your support" which was nice.

On the way back down the tunnel I did a bit more star spotting seeing Prav and Kenny Jackett before going back to my seat for the game.

After the high I was on at that moment nothing could spoil my good mood. We were going to win this game and get second place. I was absolutely certain of it.

The atmosphere was superb as the teams came onto the pitch with a band playing in the R block and the Rangers fans screaming out support for the team. He ground was virtually full with the only empty seats in the upper school end. Rangers were unchanged again and started the game well.

It was a nervy game but Rangers were looking the more likely to score. A packed Loftus Road and the Q,P and R blocks sang "Stand up if you've come all year" as a little dig at the glory hunters now tagging along to Loftus Road.

Sadly though the referee decided to ruin the game from early on with some barmy bookings. Clarke Carlisle was the first in the book as he fouled Rodney Jack on the half way line. He wasn't booked for this but was booked as Crewe moved the ball five yards away from where the foul to place and kicked the ball against Carlisle. Carlisle was booked for not going back ten yards and the free kick was moved forward.

It was utter madness and the only time in the game where the ref didn't want the free kick taken on the exact spot the foul was. This wasn't the worst decision he made though, his performance got so bad that you just had to laugh. It was a complete farce.

Rangers were in control though and McLeod had one curling shot on target, which Clayton Ince made a meal of holding onto. The keeper looked very dodgy as he flapped at every cross and lost control of the ball at the feet of Gallen but Kevin must have been thinking about meeting me before the game as he couldn't get control in time and ended up crossing for Furlong but we didn't make the chance count.

Stephen Kelly was next in the book after a foul by Carlisle. Kelly was running back and again the ball was kicked at him. This time the player wasn't even looking at the ball so god knows how he was stopping the free kick being taken.

Once again the ball was moved forward ten yards, this time instead of straight down the line he walked in a diagonal line for some reason and moved them from right by the dugout to near the centre circle. The man was so incompetent he couldn't even walk in a straight line.

We continued to have the best chances though and Langley beat two defenders on the edge of the box before being hacked down. No booking for this though, obviously running away and having a ball kicked at you is more serious than kicking someone.

Langley curled the free kick against he wall and we won a corner. Padula's delivery was good again but the ref made sure he blew for shirt pulling or some stupid bizarre reason. Langley then did well again hitting a shot at goal after beating a few defenders but Ince saved it.

Furlong also went close with an overhead kick, which the keeper did well to save. So at half time we were the better side and pretty confident of going on to win the game. Any hope of winning it though was totally ruined by that joke of a referee just a few minutes into the second half.

A corner on the left was swung in and Clarke Carlisle went in for the ball and as the keeper just got his hands on it, Carlisle headed the ball out of his hands into the net. Fair enough the goal had to be disallowed but Carlisle had won the header and his momentum made him catch the keeper.

Judging by the number of times the keeper had flapped at crosses you can't blame Carlisle for going for the header. But Ince went down like he had been shot rolling around apparently with a cut lip. For a 6 foot giant built like Danny Shittu you'd have thought he had a broken cheekbone not a cut lip the way he was rolling around.

The ref sent Carlisle off much to the disgust of the Rangers fans and players. Langley was going mad and needed Steve Palmer to calm him down.

Holloway made a change to the tactics, leaving Furlong on his own up front, dropping Gallen back into midfield and Palmer went back in defence. But against Crewe the last thing you want is to be down to ten men and you expected Crewe to go on and win the game now. The Rangers players though were superb and gave everything to gain the point they so richly deserved.

Bircham and Gallen were outstanding in midfield and Langley ran his heart out on the right. Crewe offered nothing and we still looked like we might not just hang on but get the win. But the ref made sure the game was totally ruined on the hour mark.

Stephen Kelly fouled a Crewe player with a challenge almost identical to the one on Langley in the first half. The one on Langley saw no booking but for some reason he thought this one did and Kelly got a red card to leave us with nine men. He had absolutely no common sense and our dream of 2nd place was ruined by a referee.

One fan ran on the pitch to have a go at the ref, which was not too clever, but Goldrange were as great as ever just standing and watching as he ran on. So nine men against a good passing team, this looked a lost cause.

Richard Langley was taken off before he was sent off and Matthew Rose slotted into right back. The team had to work hard and they did far more than we hoped they would. They worked so hard and restricted Crewe to very few chances.

Day was beaten on one occasion as the Crewe player went round him but he recovered to make the save. Day then made an excellent save from a long range curling shot, which he tipped over the bar.

We worked so hard though and broke down any attack before they got towards our goal. It was a magnificent back to the walls job and team were playing like heroes.

Clayton Ince then went for a goal kick and made out he'd been hit by something thrown on the pitch. The ref called the safety officer on to talk about this but didn't bother to go and check if anything had actually been thrown on. Ince made a miracle recovery and if he had been hit by something then I don't think he'd have got up so quickly, especially as a cut lip looked like it had killed him 20 minutes earlier.

Tommy Williams and Richard Pacquette both came on for McLeod and Furlong and we continued to fight for every ball.

The performance was summed up as Rose lost the ball on the right and Steve Palmer steamed in quick as a flash winning the ball and sprinting down the wing with the ball before intelligently passing back to a team mate. It was great to see and Palmer was leading the team brilliantly.

Crewe had one goal disallowed for an offside, which seemed pretty clear cut as injury time came around. We had three minutes to hang on and claim a playoff place. The Rangers fans were going mad cheering the team on and Crewe went very close to winning the game.

A shot from the edge of the area beat Chris Day and hit the bar and the rebound saw an open goal and a free header as most fans turned away in fear of the game being over. Day though produced an excellent save as he fluffed the header and we had escaped.

The nine blue and white hoped heroes hung on for a vital point, which could have been three if the referee hadn't ruined the game.

Fans ran onto the pitch, as the referee must have broken the 100 meters world record he was off the pitch so quickly. Bircham was carried on fans shoulders and the team had done brilliantly to grab a point.

Sadly the fans on the pitch ruined the chance for the players to come out on the pitch and thank us for our support but the safety officer at the club thought it was ok for Crewe to come back out and celebrate. I thought it was supposed to be our stadium but hey what does it matter what we want. We only go every week.

So a day ruined by the referee but I still had a great day. Rangers were superb and I got to go on the pitch and meet my heroes. This is a day I'll never forget and to finish off the match report I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Dave Thomas and Geraldine Field for letting me present the award before the game.

Man of the Match: Marc Bircham

Players Ratings

1.Chris Day: Made two excellent saves and was brilliant throughout the game. 8/10

32. Stephen Kelly: A Disgrace that he was sent off but he had been excellent up until then. Made one brilliant headed clearance in the first half to cut out a quality through ball. 8/10

3. Gino Padula: Quality as ever and defended like a hero when we went to nine men. 8/10 5. Clarke Carlisle: Should never have been sent off and was playing very well up until then. 8/10

6. Danny Shittu: The biggest man I've ever met and an absolute giant on the pitch for us. He may hoof it rather than pass it but when we needed a big brave defender, Shittu was immense for us. 9/10

4. Steve Palmer: A fantastic performance by Palmer. Proved his critics wrong with a superb display in midfield and defence. 9/10

9. Richard Langley: Had that bit of skill needed to change a game and was unlucky not to score in an impressive first half. Good decision to take him off though as he was probably next for a red card. 9/10

8. Marc Bircham: I've never seen a player run so much in a game. He was everywhere making tackles, getting stuck in and producing one of his best performances for Rangers so far. Impossible to pick a man of the match out of these heroes but Bircham gets my vote for chatting with me in the tunnel. 10/10

15. Kevin McLeod: A real threat in the first half but like Langley was fuming at the sendings off and needed to be taken off before he got into trouble. 8/10

29. Paul Furlong: Worked his socks off up front, gave a very good performance and was unlucky not to score. 9/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Got better when he moved back into midfield where he was outstanding alongside Bircham and helped us keep the ball and take the pressure off the defence. 9/10

Subs

7. Matthew Rose; Struggled a bit as a right back but came on in difficult circumstances and did a decent job. 8/10

24. Richard Pacquette: Played well when eh came on but didn't have much of a chance as we were defending most of the time. 8/10

33. Tommy Williams: Was subject to a disgraceful tackle near the end which could have put him out of the team again but he did well and added some fresh legs when we needed them. 8/10