Boxing Day fixtures is traditionally a day to recover from the overload of Christmas food, talk about the previous nights Only Fools and Horses and go to football. This year was no different but it was a long trip on Boxing Day up to Nottingham rather than a walk to Loftus Road for lunchtime kick off.

We left at around 11 allowing plenty of time but a long traffic Jam on the M25 meant we didn’t arrive in Nottingham till close to 2pm and decided to miss out on a cold pint in Hooters (sob!) and went straight into the ground for the confusing queuing system to buy a drink.

It was a nice surprise to see this website featured in the match day programme. I’d sent off the answers to questions that they had sent me last week but didn’t expect they’d use it so I had something to show off when I got home but apologies to Julia if she’s reading this who spent ages replying to the same email and Julia’s wasn’t used. I know how she feels having done the same for the Macclesfield programme last year only for us to lose to Vauxhall Motors and my article was no longer needed.

Before the game most fans were worried about what sort of team would be playing after the flu bug had gone through the squad but it was a nice surprise to watch the team warm up and it looked pretty much full strength. Only Furlong, Pacquette and Edghill were missing so I was pretty confident of a win.

Holloway made just three changes from the team, which lost at Oldham. Clarke Carlisle replaced Rose, Bircham in for Bean and Rowlands in for Ainsworth who I thought was very unlucky to be dropped to the bench.

Rangers began the game at a frantic pace and about 1,500 QPR fans in the away end expected a comfortable victory after the superb start we made. We launched an early attack and won a corner on the right. Padula’s effort was half cleared and Rowlands did well on the right wing. He looked for support but instead went alone and beat two men before cutting it back to Steve Palmer on the edge of the box who curled a spectacular effort into the corner of the net. Palmer ran off in almost disbelief at getting his fourth goal of the season and we were already singing Jingle Bells and celebrating what should have been an away win.

The fans complacency was only equalled by the players who went completely to sleep and did everything to hand the game to the opposition. Big striker Clive Platt was a constant threat winning everything in the air and it didn’t take long for him to get away from Shittu and fire a shot in. Day was equal to it and blocked it but Rangers stood and watched as no one reacted to the loose ball and Paul Heffernan had the simple task of equalising. It shut up the noisy away support and Notts County began to make a mockery of their league position.

The QPR offside trap was beaten time and time again but clever running off the ball by Heffernan who ran onto Platt’s flick on's to cause havoc. Forbes had to be at his best to cover for the two central defenders who were all over the place.

Despite the problems at the back we looked a real threat going forward and soon took the lead for the second time. It came from a Padula corner, which was a strange set piece. Padula seemed to miss hit it and it flew back 10 yards outside the box for Bircham. As the home fans laughed a nice ball found Carlisle who tried and successfully completed a Johan Cryuff style turn and crossed for Thorpe but before the forward could get to it Richardson headed it into his own net and we had the lead again thanks to great work by Clarke Carlisle.

This should have prompted us top kill the game off and I commented to Carly that if we sorted the defence out quickly we could win this by a few goals. Sadly we didn’t sort the defence out although we had chances to kill the game off.

Gallen had two great chances. McLeod set him up for the first which he headed just wide before a great breakaway saw him beat his man and break into the box. He was one on one with the keeper and for all Gallen’s strengths you never fancy him to score in these situations and hit it straight at the keeper.

We were made to pay for this with more calamity defending at the back. Shittu appeared to hurt himself early in the game and they took full advantage of this. Platt was winning everything in the air and another flick on saw Heffernan show excellent strength to hold off Shittu but the big defender seemed to have ice skates on as he fell over and Heffernan did well to place his shot past Day and make it 2-2.

It was an entertaining game but not one for the purists with very little football on the floor. McLeod almost made it 3-2 with a good run and cross which Thorpe just missed getting on the end of whilst at the other end the long ball and flick on from Platt was basic but impossible for us to stop and it took some great defending by Forbes to prevent us going 3-2 down as the two central defenders were having a nightmare.

At half time I expected Holloway to issue a bollocking to his defence and sort this mess out but as they came out for the second half and not much had changed. We still played the offside trap against a team who had sussed it out and despite some early success they broke it more often than they were caught and Day did well to block one effort from Platt.

Rangers still had chances and McLeod was guilty of wasting the best one. A good move saw Bircham feed McLeod and scream for the return pass but despite spotting this the pass was awful and gave Bircham no chance of getting it despite being totally unmarked.

A Padula corner almost went straight in as it was headed off the line at the far post but we were not at our best and were making Notts County look far better than they are. Heffernan was taking the piss out of our defence and the defending was getting more and more desperate by the minute.

The only way we could stop them was with fouls and Baraclough went close from one of several free kicks around the box. Holloway changed things with Gareth Ainsworth on for McLeod who was starting to get a bit of stick from the QPR fans. Ainsworth went onto the right but we continued to lose the midfield battle and seemed unable to get the ball down and dictate the pace of the game.

County continued to have the better of it as we looked a million miles away from the team which thrashed Hartlepool two weeks ago and Forbes cleared off the line from a Platt header as the defending got more and more desperate.

They deserved a goal and soon got one after Heffernan broke clear again and Carlisle slid in to get the ball. The striker went down and a penalty was given. From my seat it looked close, as he seemed to miss the ball by inches but having seen it on television since it was a pretty clear cut penalty. Carlisle went into the book for the foul when he may have been sent off, as he was the last man.

Heffernan picked himself up and scored the penalty to complete a hat trick and the frustration of the QPR fans was pretty clear as several fans around me began to blame Holloway. Not sure why but one bloke claimed we had gone top despite Ian Holloway not because of him. Amazing how quickly the knives come out for our manager.

County were looking for a fourth but also wasting plenty of time with the ball balls also getting in on the act throwing the ball away from QPR players, which was getting very frustrating.

Eric Sabin came on as a last throw on the dice to add some pace. Palmer went off and despite the groans Sabin did cause a bit of panic in the County defence and it was better to have someone in the box than Palmer on the half way line when we needed a goal.

The game looked over though and several fans bean to leave before we nicked a point. A throw in by the corner flag saw a last chance and Carlisle ran to take it. Just as I moaned to Carly that we had three men back marking one player when we need a goal, Gallen got his head on the long throw and before we knew what had happened the ball trickled over the line and the game was saved.

Gallen jumped into the QPR end whilst Padula ran and got the ball with many fans urging them onto win it now. Two minutes were left andf the County players looked devastated.

We launched one last attack as did they but nothing came of it and an entreating game ended 3-3 with Rangers knowing this was not good enough. Fair play to Notts County though who always play well against us at Meadow Lane. They looked a good side on this evidence but they can’t play like this every week judging by their league position.

Rangers now move four points behind Plymouth, which is a big gap even at this stage of the season, but at least we got something out of the game and we can get back to Loftus Road for two home games we simply have to win.

Man of the Match: Terrell Forbes

Players Ratings:

1. Chris Day: Didn't have much chance with the goals and made a few good saves but not at his best. 6/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Much better from Terrell and get my Man of the Match as without him it would have been a lot worse. 7/10

3. Gino Padula: Struggled to cope with he tricky right winger but had a decent game. 7/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: I've never seen him beaten to often in the air. Perhaps he wasn't fully fit but well below his best form. Great cross fro the second goal though. 6/10

6. Danny Shittu: I thought he should have gone off as he was clearly struggling with an injury and Heffernan was giving him a torrid time at the back. 5/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Did well for the first goal but not at his best and probably not 100% fit. 6/10

8. Marc Bircham: worked hard but had very little end product and gave the ball away in dangerous areas. 6/10

4. Steve Palmer: Good goal from the skipper and despite too many aimless balls forwards he had one of his better games. 7/10

22. Kevin McLeod: At times he looks excellent but then he gives the ball away and wastes his good work. 6/10

9. Tony Thorpe: Worked really hard up front with very little service and did well again. 7/10

10. Kevin Gallen: A much better performance from Kev and got a deserved goal although he should have scored more. 7/10

Subs

11. Gareth Ainsworth: Worked hard when he came on and deserves to start on Sunday. 7/10