After a week that most QPR fans will want to forget it was back to football matters rather than the Terrell Forbes rape trial, which was at the front of our minds.

Luton were in town which always makes for a passionate encounter with the added spice of Tony Thorpe making sure Luton were well up for this one.

Rangers switched back to a 4-4-2 for this game with Marcus Bignot making his second debut for Rangers at right back. Edghill was at left back with Kevin Gallen replacing McLeod on the left wing and Tony Thorpe started up front. Marcus Bean replaced the suspended Marc Bircham who may miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

It was almost a full house as both sets of fans made plenty of noise early on as we looked for the win to take us clear of Bristol City.

The match started at a fast pace with both sides getting stuck in with some full-bloodied tackles. Rangers missed the pace of McLeod out wide but Gallen was showing plenty of quality in a different position. We got into some good positions out wide but the final ball didn’t have the quality to open up Luton.

The ref and linesmen made sure they were the stars of the game stopping the game every few seconds and generally giving Rangers very little. Furlong was called up for shirt pulling every time he went forward but amazingly when the defender had a tug at Furlong nothing was given. With the number of free kicks being given the game was never really allowed to flow.

Rangers had a few chances from set pieces. Gnohere and Carlisle had headers saved but the Luton keeper Hyldgaard was having a solid game and dealt with what we threw at him. Luton’s plans went wrong within 20 minutes as new signing Underwood went off injured. It got worse for them as another two players went off injured and they were forced to re shape the team.

Rangers tried to take advantage of this and Thorpe got on the end of a long goal kick to lay of back to Rowlands who fired in a cracking shot, which was very well saved and turned behind, for a corner.

Gallen went close cutting in on the left but had his shot blocked before Furlong fired in a 30 yard free kick which the keeper couldn’t hold onto and Luton cleared the loose ball.

To Luton’s credit they did stayed in the game after all those changes and almost took the lead. A good cross from the left saw Showunmi head past Camp and Carlisle reacted quickly with a brilliant bicycle kick off the line to save the day. It was hard to see if the ball went over the line from where I was but most people I spoke to at half time who were in the lower loft felt it was a goal.

Rangers were denied a penalty when Furlong was clearly pulled down by the defender but the ref stuck with the rule that if it's Paul Furlong give a free kick to Luton.

With half time approaching Rangers grabbed the lead. Gallen did well on the left running into the box and picking out a wonderful cross for Paul Furlong to rise above the defender and power a superb header past the keeper and sent Loftus Road into ecstasy. The half time whistle was greeted with huge cheers as Rangers looked set to win again at home.

Rangers came out for the second half looking to finish the game off and went close straight away by hitting the side netting. Luton were well up for this though and should have got level after some sloppy defending by Carlisle. A ball over the top saw Showunmi beat Carlisle for pace and use his strength to hold off the defender but Camp did well to save the strikers effort. Carlisle’s lack of pace is worrying especially with Forbes not around to come across and make the last ditch tackle.

We continued to have chances to kill the game off but we were doing far too much time wasting with over 30 minutes left which is never a good idea. Richard Johnson went close to a killer goal for us as he headed a Gallen corner just over the bar.

Lee Campo was keeping us in it at the other end making a fine save from a fierce Showunmi shot before getting up and turning the rebound from Nichols wide for a corner.

Rangers then had a good little spell going forward as Gallen began causing problems from out wide but Holloway made a change to get some fresh legs on. Kevin McLeod came on for the disappointing Tony Thorpe as Gallen went back up front.

A long chorus of Kevin Gallen’s magic followed as the fans willed the captain to get the goal his performance deserved but when a goal came it wasn’t QPR who were celebrating.

A long ball over the top saw Carlisle wait for the ball to bounce and took far too long to attack the ball and clear it. Showunmi took advantage holding off Carlisle and lofted his shot over Camp into the bottom corner. News of Bristol City losing was beginning to come through which made this goal even more disappointing.

Rangers stepped up a gear to try and get a winner. Bignot crossed from deep and Luton almost scored an own goal as the keeper did well to keep out a defensive header. From the corner Gallen swung the ball in and Carlisle headed just inches wide.

Holloway made one more change taking off Bean and throwing on Jamie Cureton. Rowlands went back into central midfield for the last few minutes and Gallen moved to the right.

Cureton almost grabbed a winner with an ambitious shot from out wide. As Furlong waited for the cross Cureton chipped it goal wards and it almost caught out the keeper who had to stretch to make keep it out.

Arthur Gnohere was next to go close with a powerful header flying just wide from another Gallen corner but it wasn’t to be and Rangers had to settle for the point.

Results elsewhere mean we move three points clear of Bristol City but this was a great chance to take advantage of Bristol’s bad form and move five clear of them. A draw was a fair result though as Luton battled well and deserved something from the game and I felt we should have gone after a second goal with a bit more urgency when we were 1-0 up but instead we just invited Luton onto us with some stupid time wasting by Camp.

Man of the Match: Kevin Gallen

Players Ratings

31. Lee Camp: Made several excellent saved to keep us in front but I hope he cuts out some of this time wasting which wasn't helping us. 7/10

12. Marcus Bignot: slotted into right back as if he's never been away. A solid performance and I'm sure he'll prove to be an excellent signing. 7/10

23. Richard Edghill: His first full game since November so good to see him back and he did a solid job at left back. 7/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: An amazing piece of defending to keep us level in the first half but he went to sleep a few times in the second half and should have dealt with the Luton goal better than he did. 6/10

20. Arthur Gnohere: Better than last weekend and played some decent balls through to the forwards. 7/10

14. Martin Rowlands: A quiet game from Rowlands who didn't get enough of the ball to cause problems out wide. 6/10

17. Marcus Bean: Worked hard and won plenty of tackles to win us possession. His passing was also pretty good. 7/10

30. Richard Johnson: Not his best performance for Rangers as he lost the midfield battle but I felt he was trying to hard to be the Bircham of the midfield and get forward which I don't think suits his game. 6/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Again he played in three different positions and did a fine job in all of them. Although he wasn't at his best the cross for the first goal was sheer perfection and hopefully he'll teach Kevin McLeod how to do that. 8/10

29. Paul Furlong: Got nothing from the referee as he was often pulled up for having his shirt pulled. Took his goal very well and is in good form coming into the crunch part of the season. 7/10

9. Tony Thorpe: A very quiet game from Thorpe who never really got involved and the occasion seemed to get to him a bit. 6/10

Subs

22. Kevin McLeod: Got into some good positions to get crosses in but his final ball was awful. 6/10

28. Jamie Cureton: Again he looked sharp and came close to nicking a winner with an audacious shot.