This years second instalment of the division two West London derby took place over the weekend and following the pattern of the last five encounters it proved to be a dull affair.

The day started early for many Loftus QPR fans embarked on a sponsored walk from Loftus Road to Brentford in a bid to raise money for Our QPR. The walk began at around 10.15 and QPR fans were joined by David Davies, Harold Winton and Nick Blackburn for the walk about Blackburn didn't compete the walk as he had work to do.

Rangers had around 400 fans doing the walk and it was an impressive sight with plenty of blue and white on display and shoppers in Chiswick giving a few shouts of UR'ss to us. A stop by the Barley Mow in Chiswick saw several of the walkers decided a few beers were in order so the group split up at this stage but those of us left arrived at around 12.30 to sample one or two drinks in the pubs by the away end.

After seeing Man Utd win again we made our way to the packed terrace with plenty of QPR's own stewards making life difficult for anyone trying to get into the away end. The team news provided a bit of a shock. Tony Thorpe was dropped with Paul Furlong back up front. Ollie changed it to a 4-5-1 formation as Gallen played in midfield. Chris Day was back in place of Nick Culkin whilst Peter Gilham announced Kevin McLeod on the left but he also missed out. McLeod was sick in the dressing room so couldn't play and Eric Sabin made his first start since Swindon away in November. Marien Ifura needed to be called in quickly to make up the numbers on the bench

So not the perfect start for Rangers but most of the attention was on Martin Rowlands who started the game on the right wing. As the game kicked off his every touch was booed as he became the pantomime villain for Brentford fans furious with the QPR midfielder for signing for the only club who offered him a contract last summer.

Neither side looked too impressive early on a a few corners and free kicks for both sides resulted in very little goalmouth action. It was a typical derby game with lots of passion and effort but no one really took the time to put a foot on the ball and pass the ball around.

The opening goal came after around 20 minutes (it was hard to tell as the Brentford scoreboard was broken). A long throw by Carlisle on the right was knocked int o the box by Rowlands and half cleared as far as Palmer. Palmer miss hit his shot but it fell to Furlong who looked offside but the tv pictures show the Brentford full back playing him onside. His initial shot was well saved by Julian but he got hod of the rebound and buried it past Julian with a quality bicycle kick. The Rangers fans celebrated and the ref looked like he was about to disallow it as it seemed to take ages to re start the game.

Rangers then did the usual trick after going a goal up away from home and we tried to sit back and hold on. This never works and Brentford should have been level before half time. A free kick was given out wide and Rangers again failed to deal with it and Dobsons header was heading for the back of the net before Day produced a brilliant one handed save to claw it away and keep us in front. It was another example of why Day should remain as our number one keeper.

Holloway made a slight change during the half with Rowlands and Sabin swapping wings. Sabin had a bit more luck on the right where his pace caused a few problems but Rowlands was being marked out of the game by Dobson on the left.

Brentford had another chance before the break after a ball over the top saw some confusion between Day at Carlisle as they both left it to each other and the Brentford forward shot wide. Rose and Carlisle both had a pop at Day for not coming out but surely safety first would have been to clear the ball and not leave it up to the keeper to run out 20 yards to sort out the danger.

At half time it was good to be in front but we needed a second goal to kill the game off. We almost go it after the break after excellent work by Furlong saw him cross but Rowlands and Sabin completely missed the ball when a goal seemed certain. We were soon made to pay for that as we continued to sit back and Brentford got level with their first chance of the second half.

A free kick was given away on the edge of the area and it looked like a very dangerous position. Palmer did his usual trick of trying the play the last forward offside by running forwards and backwards quickly and waving at the linesmen. This worked once against Reading a few years back but I think he would have been better off just standing on the line and letting Furlong deal with the forward. The free kick was blocked and the wall charged at O'Connor to block him again but his shot was deflected off Furlong and into the back of the net with Day wrong footed. Ironically the ball sailed into the corner where Palmer had been standing before he decided to try and play the offside game and leave that post unguarded.

Brentofrd were well up for it now and came at us for the three points but despite a few corners they didn't really look like scoring. At the other end we weren't much better and a few crosses from the right caused a bit of excitement but we never really tested the keeper. Gallen had one shot go wide which hit a steward in the back of the head and proved to be the highlight of the second half.

Rangers then made a change with Jamie Cureton coming on for Eric Sabin Cureton was a real threat when he came on and linked well with Gallen to create a chance for Rowlands which was shot wide. Cureton then went close to his first QPR goal with a neat turn and shot which went over the bar. We were looking the more likely at this stage to win it but as the board went up for two minutes injury time we did our best to give the home side a chance giving away a corner which they failed to do anything with.

The game ended as a draw with Brentford fans celebrating like mad as if they had won the league. QPR fans were less happy but it was a much better result and performance than our last few away games where we have been far too easy to beat.

Martin Rowlands was subject to more abuse as he went off and a few bottles were thrown at him which was disgraceful from the home side. Still I expect Peter Gilham will do something about this as he was so upset by Rowlands, McLeod, Gallen and Bircham last November that he wrote to the football league and the newspapers to complain about our behaviour.

I'm sure he'll be seeking justice again from his moral high ground over this and other incidents involving objects being thrown at Rowlands. He said last November: "I have never felt as incensed as I was on Tuesday night and these feelings were brought about solely by the actions of four mindless idiots - Rowlands, McLeod, Bircham and Gallen." I wonder if he was so upset at bottles being thrown at QPR players. No I don't think he will either.

Back to the game and it wasn't the worst performance of the season by a long way but a draw was about right and we'll need to make big improvements if we are to go up automatically this season. The imminent signing of Richard Johnson should help the midfield out but a central defender has to be top of Ollie's shopping list.

1. Chris Day: Good to see him back and he made an excellent save to show why he's the best keeper we have. 7/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Once again came in for some stick from the QPR fans but defended well and put in some good crosses in the second half. 7/10

3. Gino Padula: Looking back to his best now with a solid defensive display and some dangerous crosses from the left. 7/10

7. Matthew Rose: Much better than last weekends performance but still tends to go to sleep and give the opposition a chance which will see the team punished against the better teams in the division. 6/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Defended well and kept O'Connor quiet but still not quite at his best. 6/10

4. Steve Palmer: Ran around a lot and did very little wrong but he played far to deep int he second half meaning the forwards have very little support. 6/10

8. Marc Bircham: Another decent game as his tackling and work rate upset the home side and their supporters. He can play better but an improvement on previous away games. 7/10

12. Eric Sabin: Ran his heart out and caused one or two problems. Not the ideal replacement for McLeod but did his best and looked low on confidence after that miss in the second half. 7/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Very quiet game from Rowlands who was marked very well by Dobson. He seemed desperate to get the winner near the end but this wasn't to be his day. 6/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Hopefully this will be the last we see of him in midfield. Coming from deep he never looks much of a threat but he inked well with Cureton int he last ten minutes. 6/10

29. Paul Furlong: Worked hard and held the ball up well hoping for midfield runners to support him but that never happened. After looking a tired old man two weeks ago he now looks back to the Furlong we saw this time last season. 8/10

Subs

28. Jamie Cureton. Looked very promising and came close to his first goal. 7/10