The chance to win a cup competition doesn't come along too often. In fact it's been nine years since QPR got this close to a cup final (FA Cup quarter finals in 1995) and 18 years since we last got to a cup final. So the LDV trophy presented a realistic opportunity for QPR to win some silverware and earn around £500,000 from a Millennium Stadium appearance.

So with that in mind we travelled down to Southend in high spirits ahead of what should have been another step on the road to Cardiff.
It all started going wrong early though when Carly's Hammersmith and City line journey was delayed and we managed to miss the train to Southend. Luckily we got the next one which should have got us there in time for kick off. Luck wasn't with us though as an explosion outside the carriage followed by problems with the overhead cables meant we were stuck in Wicford and had to run to the stadium when we finally arrived half an hour into the first half.

Upon entering the stadium we had a corner in front of the 2,000 QPR fans in the away end. It was cleared and it soon became apparent that despite having seat numbers on our tickets and it being a near sell out it was it where you lie. We spent most of the rest of the half trying to find a seat with not a lot happening on the pitch.

One flick on by Furlong almost sent Gallen through but it was pretty dire stuff and 0-0 at half time seemed fair on what I'd seen. Shame we were 1-0 down which I found out when talking to my dad at half time.

Still things couldn't get much worse. Oh yes they could. First the second half was delayed as an appeal for an FA qualified official was made by the tannoy and the teams came out five minutes late. Thanks to John McCooke for describing the opening goal to me during the break. Apparently the ball fell to the Constantine who had 1.2 seconds before anyone reacted. Some fans thought he must have been offside but he smashed it past Day for the first goal.

I expect a better second half though and we started brightly. Marney and Gallen had a nice interchange of passes and we won a few corners. Padula left his crossing boots at home though and the set pieces were easily cleared. We had plenty of pressure early on though and it was almost impossible to predict what was to follow.

We had been poor upto this point but it soon got a lot worse. A Padula corner was cleared and Rangers stood and watched as Gower broke away from Forbes who seemed frightened to tackle him and left the winger one on one with Bircham. If this had been a league game I think Gower or the ball would have been put in the stand but Bircham just watched as Gower ran through and finished it well shooting past Day into the bottom corner. A Good goal from their point of view but poor defending by us.

You could see the confidence draining out of the team and from here on we simply gave up and fell apart.

A third soon followed as Gower again had as much time as he wanted to take a touch in our penalty area, sit down have a cup of team then beat Forbes before chipping a cross to the far post. Despite the six foot striker on the far post we didn't bother to mark him and his good header looped over Day and Carlisle tried to head it off the line but instead headed it straight up into the roof of the net. Pathetic.

At this stage the away end emptied and who could blame anyone for going as this was our worst performance for some time. The dream of winning a cup competition was over and had been given up in a gutless performance.

Holloway looked furious on the touchline and replaced the hopeless Dean Marney with Eric Sabin who at least looked interested when he came on. We almost managed a shot on target during a spell of pressure at their end but the football we were playing was truly awful and a forth goal came as no surprise.

Once again it was poor defending that to it. The wide player was allowed time and space to get a cross in to the unmarked forward who had two men behind him also totally unmarked. Day parried the header when he could have held onto it and Broughton tapped in his second of the night equalling the number he has scored all season.

It was a embarrassing display and Holloway took off Gallen and Bircham for Oli and Palmer at the end and Oli looked lively when he came on.

We had two chances near the end as Oli went on a good run and shot straight at the keeper and then Furlong turned and hit a shot well over when he should have hit the target. Sabin also had a good run before being brought down but it was too little too late and Southend deservedly went through to the LDV Southern Area final against Colchester.

The players at the end decided to just walk straight down the tunnel (Chris Day and Clarke Carlisle the only exceptions who came over to acknowledge us) so ended the game int he same gutless way they have played it.

So where to go from here. Well it's a massive blow and I don't think we'll ever get a better chance to win a cup competition. Southend deserved the win and good luck to them against Colchester in the area final. Going out of the LDV is not the end of the world but the manner in which we went out is cause for some concern.

Ian Holloway will have a lot of work to do with the team this week ahead of a tough game at Bournemouth. Clarke Carlisle is suspended for that one so at least one change will have to made and many fans will be praying that Kevin Mcleod and Tony Thorpe make a swift return to the team to add some much needed creativity to our attacks.

Man of the Match: Eric Sabin

Players Ratings:

1. Chris Day: Poor handling for the fourth goal and I thought he could have done more for the second and third as well. Not a night he'll want to remember. 3/10

2. Terrell Forbes: He's given his critics plenty of ammunition on this performance. Truly awful. 2/10

3. Gino Padula: His crossing was poor and his defending not much better. 2/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Very poor defensive headers which usually went straight to a Southend player. His worse game since last march.. 2/10

6. Danny Shittu: Like Carlisle he was awful and his hoofs out for a throw in when he had time and space to think were embarrassing. 2/10

7. Matthew Rose: Hardly noticed him as we bottled the midfield battle. 2/10

8. Marc Bircham: Didn't look like he fancied the battle and his quick free quick were too often wasted. 2/10

27. Dean Marney: I can't believe he's played in the Premiership on this evidence. 3/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Tried to take them all on himself when a simple pass would have put in players in a better position. 2/10

29. Paul Furlong: Won a few flick ons and got no service but still pretty poor. 3/10

10. Kevin Gallen: His worse game in recent memory. 3/10

Subs

12. Eric Sabin: He ran around a lot and caused a few problems 5/10

4. Steve Palmer: Not on for long. 4/10

18. Dennis Oli: Close second for the man of the match despite only being on for five minutes. 5/10