Another year another trip to vale Park. Trips to Port Vale usually end in tears and with this being on a Tuesday night I have to say I wasn't full of hope going into this one especially after a poor display on Saturday. Still after about 3 and a half hours on the supporters club coach we arrived at the ground and headed for a pint in the Vine pub. Sadly that was full so we decided to drink in the ground where it was the bargain price of £2 for a very cold beer.

As we took our seats the away support looked pretty impressive. A bit too impressive for the stewards who had roped off most of the stand and as many arrived late they couldn't find a seat for everyone. Quite why they bothered to have the rest of the stand roped off is beyond me but lots of shouting and arguing ensued and luckily for those fighting for a seat they missed most of the first ten minutes.

Rangers made one change to Saturday team with Tony Thorpe replacing the injured Paul Furlong and we started with a 4-4-2 attacking the far end of the pitch.

Port Vale have one of the widest pitches in the league and usually expose us on this pitch. It may have been wise to play Gallen in midfield and make it difficult for them to use the space but we opted for the usual formation and within minutes we were all over the place.

It was hardly rocket science from Port Vale. They did their homework and just had to break our offside trap and did so within five minutes. A long ball in between Forbes and Barton saw cries of offside but Paynter was miles onside and ran through unchallenged. Day stayed on his line and made it easy for the forward to bury his shot into the back of the net.

A Disastrous start for Rangers and worse was to come. Cries of Wake up Rangers came from the 800 or so QPR fans but it fell on deaf ears as Port Vale murdered us. Our defence was a complete shambles and the pace of the Port Vale attack left us looking like a team fighting relegation.

Adrian Littlejohn was next to exploit us with Warren Barton making Littlejohn look like Thierry Henry. Littlejohn ran towards him on the left wing as Barton backed off and with time and space he picked out a cross for McPhee to head past Day and kill the game off. Boos rang around the away end and it was an absolutely shocking start to the game. Holloway changed things putting Forbes to right back to try and stop Littlejohn and Barton to central defence but things just continued to get worse.

Long balls over the top were creating havoc for us with Mcphee, Paynter and Littlejohn far too quick for the QPR defence and as Day rushed out to stop them he made a mess of his clearance and Rangers were very lucky to survive.

After around 20 minutes we managed an attack of our own but a neat ball by Bean saw Rowlands stand and watch it go out for a goal kick. A little movement off the ball would have been nice. The lack of movement by the midfield was terrible with Gallen and Thorpe getting no support and no option to pass to when they had the ball. The result was Gallen came deeper and deeper to get the ball and when a long ball was knocked forward to him he was usually back defending rather than getting on the end of things.

The defence was so poor that one breakaway saw Padula and Palmer totally slaughtered and Gallen had to come back to clear for a corner with the defence nowhere to be seen. Port Vale were all over us and Littlejohn found himself clean through after outpacing Barton but wasted the chance blasting over the bar.

It was a total shambles as Day flapped at crosses and only dire finishing by the home side kept the score down. It really should have been 6 or 7-0 to the home team before we even got a shot in. McLeod it was who had our first effort on goal which was well saved but that was all we had to show for our first half showing which would have been worse if the post hadn't saved us after Day missed a cross and the header hit the post and went wide. The team were booed off by some as the rest of us stood in shock at how bad we were playing.

At half time some fans mentioned the 4-4 and the game was similar to that one in that port vale were pissing all over us but I'd be amazed if anyone in that QPR end really believed we would get something out of the game and as someone who is usually stupidly optimistic even I had given up.

The inevitable changes happened during the break. We finally went to 4-5-1 to win the ball in midfield but it was 45 minutes too late. Thorpe and the woeful Barton went off with Clarke Carlisle coming onto to a heroes welcome and Gareth Ainsworth got a warm reception from the Port Vale fans at his former club.

We started the half brightly as the Rangers fans sang the great escape tune which was ironic really as earlier in the day whilst watching the Terry Wogan show on channel five they had a real life survivor of the actual great escape story who has a book out at the moment and told what actually happened.

This probably shows how bad the game was that one of the best moments of the day was listening to this bloke on the Terry Wogan show. Back to the game though and not much was happening. We huffed and puffed a lot but never looked like scoring.

The referee had been quiet up until then but soon got going producing a red card for Rowland. It was fully deserved though after a bad over the top tackle on Bean leaving the ref no choice but to send him off. Against ten men now and well we just don't score against ten men do we.

Port Vale shut up shop which was lucky really as it kept the score down and we kept trying to get back in the game but with no success. To be fair we were playing better in the second half with Ainsworth doing well in the right but we had no penetration up front and no support from the midfield to help Gallen.

We did manage a shot though as Bircham hit one from the edge of the box but only some Bobby Mimms style goalkeeping could have let that one in. As the fans slowly gave up hope Carlisle was booked for having a kick at Littlejohn. He did the job though as Littlejohn was very quiet after that having run as ragged beforehand. Carlisle was sorting the defence out and we looked a lot more solid although Vale still had chances to extend the lead further.

Pacquette came on for Bean with time ticking away and he almost got us back in the game after a deep cross saw McLeod head back but Pacquette hit his shot straight up in the air instead of in the back of the net from six yards out. Ainsworth began to have some joy out wide and whip crosses in but we never took advantage and McLeod hit a volley out for a throw in when he really should have scored.

A penalty appeal was waved away by the ref after a blatant hand ball but at least the ref was consistent as he missed about 6 handballs from both teams during the first half.

As injury time arrived Clarke Carlisle went up front but it was al over and the final whistle saw a few boos before the team were clapped off after the players came over to thanks us and say sorry for a shocking performance. Carlisle even blew the fans a kiss which was nice but I doubt any of the fans leaving were in the mood to forgive this performance. We were terrible and 2-0 flattered us as Port Vale really should have won by 5 or 6 goals.

So where do we go from here. Well it was this time last year that the team totally fell apart and we'll need to make sure that doesn't happen again. Despite the awful night we are still 3 points off the top with a game in hand so no need to panic but Ian Holloway and the fans will want a 200% improvement on Saturday against Tranmere.

Man of the Match: Clarke Carlisle

Players Ratings

1. Chris Day: Far to hesitant for the first goal and had possibly his worst game for Rangers. 5/10

20. Warren Barton: Oh Dear. Too slow to even play at this level I'm afraid. Hopefully he'll improve but on this showing it is amazing to think he played Champions League football 18 months ago. If performances like this continue I may have to change my surname as hearing "Barton you are shit" for 45 minutes gets a little soul destroying. 4/10

3. Gino Padula: Can we have our Gino Padula back please rather than this strange man with a wig on. A terrible performance from Gino. 5/10

4. Steve Palmer: He's told the manager he is to slow to play in defence and he showed that in this game. I wouldn't be surprised to see us make a loan signing before the weekend as we badly missed Gnohere and Shittu. 5/10

2. Terrell Forbes: At least he improved after the break but like the rest of the defence he was pretty woeful and was easily outpaced several times by Littlejohn. 5/10

22. Kevin McLeod: Not quite as bad as everyone else but not good either. At least he had a shot. 6/10

8. Marc Bircham: One of his worst performances for Rangers as he gave the ball away and chased shadows. Very disappointing. 5/10

17. Marc Bean: Credit to the youngster as he never gave up and kept fighting for the ball but wasn't at his best. 6/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Hardly touched the ball on the wing and got even worse when in central midfield. 5/10

9. Tony Thorpe: Be nice if we actually gave him the ball but the only time he got it he had three defenders around him. His lack of movement though was very disappointing. 5/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Worked hard but his usual passing skills were well below what he is capable of and he never really looked like scoring. 6/10

Subs

5. Clarke Carlisle: Welcome Back Clarke and he sorted the defence out pretty quickly when he came on. Nowhere near his best but still better than anyone else in a QPR shirt on the night. 7/10

11. Gareth Ainsworth: Looked a threat as the game wore on but ran out of space too often and ran the ball out of play before crossing it. He did look better than he has in recent games though. 6/10

15. Richard Pacquette: Had one chance he should have scored from and worked hard but didn't look at his best. 6/10