Our first away league game of the season and already an injury crisis meant not many fans went into this game with much confidence.

We were boosted though by the news that Kevin McLeod had signed on a month's loan ahead of a £250,000 permanent move from Everton and he was among the subs for this game.

Getting to the Withdean was a bit of a nightmare. As usual in London Rush hour the train companies make sure all trains on as many lines as possible are delayed. So instead of getting to Preston Park by about half six we instead sat on a packed train till well after 7 and went straight to the ground.

Those who have been before know what the ground is like so I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say, it's a dump. Strangely we found ourselves in almost exactly the same seats as we were in last time we came to the Withdean and the view hadn't improved. I couldn't see a thing of the far side of the pitch and the other end seemed miles away.

The teams were announced to the cheers of the Rangers fans. Three changes for us. Martin Rowlands and Eric Sabin made debuts in place of Gallen and Ainsworth whilst Tommy Williams replaced the departed Richard Langley. Rangers started attacking towards our end and it was a bright start by Rangers.

Martin Rowlands looked full of running on the right whilst Paul Furlong looked a real threat. Those two combined for a good early chance. Rowlands picked out Furlong with an excellent through ball but Furlong had just strayed offside before hitting the post with a shot.

It was a good start though and things got better after just eight minutes. Furlong was fouled out on the right wing and time for the first free kick of the post Richard Langley era. Gino Padula ran over and whipped in a magnificent curling cross which beat the defence leaving Steve Palmer unmarked but the defender just missed the ball but saw it sail into the back of the net. It was an excellent goal and the QPR went mad jumping up and down celebrating as the scaffolding stand began to shake.

A dream start for us and we had to keep things tight for ten minuets and not do anything silly.

Brighton reacted well though and Leon Knight was starting to look a threat. His pace and trickery created a few problems before they got an equaliser.

Padula slipped allowing Brighton more time than they should have had down the right and the cross over beat Carlisle and saw Leon Knight totally unmarked to head past Chris Day. It was a well worked goal but the marking was poor.

The game wasn't a classic with both teams resorting to long hoofs up field, which saw the goalkeepers have more possession than most of the outfield players. Hardly a great advert for division two football for the Sky viewers. Both teams had chances before the break to go ahead.

Danny Shittu broke out of defence and played a neat ball through to Sabin whose pace beat the offside trap. The Frenchman was one on one with the keeper but Sabin tried to be clever and go around the keeper rather than just shoot and he was stopped in his tracks. Sabin had an almost identical chance soon after but this time he appeared to back out as Ben Roberts came running out and cleared the danger.

The Rangers fans were doing the usual round of Town full of faggots etc which gets a bit boring after a while but the YMCA song was quite funny.

Marc Bircham was the first Rangers player in the book. A foul on Knight saw Bircham try and pick up the forward but Knight reacted angrily to Bircham picking him up and the man with blue hair was shown a yellow card.

The defence were playing well keeping Brighton out. Carlisle and Shittu made several good interceptions and at half time a draw was a fair result.

The talk at half time was how long before McLeod comes on we were all hoping he's come off the bench and get the winner. No changes at half time though expect for a change in Brighton attitude and they came out much the stronger side. They were willing to put a few passes together and get knight involved which saw us on the back foot from the off.

They didn't create any chances but all we could muster were long balls forward, which were easily dealt with. Less than ten minutes into the second half and McLeod made his entrance as a sub replace Eric Sabin and he made a quick impact.

Within a few minutes of coming on he raced onto a mistake by a defender and stormed into the box. McLeod went round the keeper but was to wide to get a shot in and his weak cross was easily cleared for a corner. This was better though and a bit of direct running at people was badly needed by us.

Once again a corner was wasted as Roberts easily caught the ball and we went back to hoofing the ball at each other for a few minutes. Then came the major talking point of the game. My view of this from my seat in the stadium is slightly different now I've seen it on tv.

At the time it looked a late tackle by Mayo on Forbes who caught out defender and was heading for the books. Forbes seemed to go heard to head with Mayo before the Brighton man took a step back and threw himself on the floor holding his face. We went mad screaming cheat at the Brighton man as Terrell headed down the Tunnel to the applause of the QPR fans.

Seeing the incident later on tv, Forbes not only makes contact with his head but also had a kick at Mayo. It was a stupid thing for Forbes to do and totally out of character. Mayo made a complete meal of the head butt making sure Forbes got sent off and honestly he should have been sent off as well but Forbes can have no complaints about his red card.

Down to ten men we were always going to be up against it and with Palmer now at right back they began to find more space. Leon Knight forced Day into a save as he dropped off Carlisle and hit a shot from 25 yards. Day was called into action again soon after when Henderson hit a low shot into the bottom corner but Day tipped it around the post.

We were up against it now and a goal soon followed, A ball forward saw Henderson beast Carlisle in the air and nod over Shittu for Leon Knight to pounce and stab the ball past Chris Day for number two.

We now had a massive job on but in truth never looked like getting back in the game. Dennis Oli and Marcus Bean replaced the tiring Martin Rowlands and Tommy Williams and Oli looked very sharp up front. He pace and strength caused a few problems and he appeared to be brought down in the box in the 88th minute but he may have just slipped, it's impossible to tell from the away end.

Oli's pace won us a free kick in the last minute and a ball in saw Ben Roberts punch clear and flatten Clarke Carlisle in the process. For some reason the ref gave them a free kick for this as Carlisle lay in agony on the floor. The St Johns ambulance men strolled on as if they didn't have a care in the world as Prav went mad calling them on. The injury looked serious and as he was pulled past us on the stretcher he wasn't moving and looked in a very bad way.

We kept trying but had no real idea how to break Brighton down and after a last minute elbow in the face on Bircham was ignored the full time whistle went and we had lost for the first time in a league game since March 22nd.

So a disappointing night and a poor performance but the return of Gareth Ainsworth and hopefully a new forward will get us back on rack at the weekend.

If the rumours are true and Leon Knight is the man we get, then we are in fro a treat as the boy was simply superb for Brighton and the difference between two hard working sides who should be in around the top 4 at the end of the season.

Man of the Match: Gino Padula

Players Ratings

1. Chris Day: Made two excellent saves but hit far too many goal kicks high and long giving us no chance to retain possession. 7/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Was playing well until the sending off. Hopefully he'll learn from that. 6/10

3. Gino Padula: Cracking goal and a good defensive performance. Was one of the few players trying to play it on the floor. 7/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Defended well but made two mistakes which cost us two goals. Hopefully he's injury isn't too serious. 7/10

6. Danny Shittu: Defended well for most of the game against a very good forward line. 7/10

4. Steve Palmer: Worked hard but not as effective as in the first two games. Looked better when he went o right back. 6/10

8. Marc Bircham: Poor game from Bircham. He worked hard but his passing was very poor and he looked like he was carrying a knock towards the end. 6/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Our best midfield player on the night. Played some nice passes and looked a real threat at times. He faded after half time though when we continued to hoof the ball instead of passing it. 7/10

33. Tommy Williams Made a few good runs forward and got across well to cover the defence on a few counter attacks but not really the answer on the left. 6/10

12. Eric Sabin: Showed good pace and awareness to get into two great positions but he fluffed both chances. 6/10

29. Paul Furlong: Worked hard all night with very little service, only really have one chance which was a very poor effort. 6/10

Subs

17. Marcus Bean: Got stuck in but didn't do a great deal. 6/10

18. Dennis Oli: Looked very sharp and was one of our better players. 7/10

22. Kevin McLeod: Good to see him back and his pace caused them problems but we didn't give him the ball enough. 7/10