Bank Holiday Monday 2003 saw QPR’s first ever visit to Nene Park. Who would have thought that we’d be playing Rushden and Diamonds in a league game just a few years ago? Still we are on an even playing field now and Rushden have started the season very well beating Tranmere 2-1 just a few days ago. They were a team to be respected and we knew we’d be in for a tough game. Rushden also have one of the best home records in the league and I think they were a win away from a club record number of home wins in a row.

The stadium was a pretty impressive one, one of the better ones in the league. A club shop which sells Dr Martins boots and when you get into the ground they had enough bars and toilets to cater for the 2,000 QPR fans. Rushden have the brain power QPR still struggle with in that they pre pour beer to get the queues down and probably sell more of the stuff too.

The view from the away end was excellent and although it is a small ground similar to Northampton’s it is very impressive for a team not long out of Non league.

Rangers made two changes to the team that won on Saturday. Kevin McLeod was missing as his wife went into labour earlier in the day so Ian Holloway allowed him to have the day off. Tommy Williams replaced him on the left wing whilst Kevin Gallen returned up front in place of Thorpe who dropped to the bench.

Rangers started attacking towards the Rushden fans and looked sharp early on. Furlong was linking well with Gallen and we got an early chance to go ahead.

A ball over the top saw Gallen run onto it and he had a clear run at goal. As he got to the edge of the area he was hacked down but a defender for as clear a professional foul, as you are likely to see. The defender was only shown a yellow though and despite being surrounded by Rushden players arguing he didn’t move the ball forward ten yards for dissent. Unfortunately he only remembered that rule whenever a QPR player argued.

Furlong took the free kick but it came to nothing. Rushden had made their game plan clear. Kick anything that moves and Ainsworth was next on the hit list and was almost cut in half by a disgusting late tackle. Another yellow was shown and Ainsworth limped off to receive more treatment.

With the full back on a yellow card we had to take advantage of this and run at the defence, sooner or later he had to make another late tackle and get them down to ten men. You can be sure teams do it against us but for some reason we never really took advantage of this.

Furlong went close to opening the scoring with a shot on the turn which was well saved before poor defending gifted Rushden the lead. A throw in for Rangers saw us fall asleep and quickly lose possession. Carlisle and Shittu came across to cover for Gino and as Rowlands marked the space left by those two. A cross to the far post found Duane Darby totally unmarked to tap the ball past Chris Day for a easy finish. It was awful defending by Rangers and Day appeared to be hurt in his effort to block the shot with his legs.

Things almost got worse as we looked all over the place and a chipped shot from the edge of the area was sailing into the top corner before Day produced a brilliant save to just tip it over the bar. Once again Day was keeping us in a game with his brilliant saves and from looking in total control we had lost the plot.

The midfield were not winning the ball and Ainsworth was very quiet on the wing although he appeared to be struggling after that awful tackle on him early on.

We finally began to settle mid way through the half as Gallen and Furlong began to hold the ball up and create a few openings. One long goal kick was beautifully brought down by Furlong and in one movement he turned his man with ease and hit a brilliant volley just wide of the post. It would have been a brilliant goal if he had finished it off.

The front two were getting us in the game but the midfield were once again disappointing, rarely looking for the ball off the defence meaning the front two were always left chasing long balls.

One long kick by Day got some abuse from the crowd as someone shouted "Roll it to a fullback" but it may help if a full back showed for the ball rather than ran away from it.

Anyway from this goal kick the goal of the season quickly followed. Williams won the ball on the left and launched a long diagonal ball to the right. Before you could say "Christ Williams look up before you spray those hopeless balls wide" Ainsworth ran onto it and volleyed first time into the back of the net from 30 yards out.

The net almost burst and the Rangers fans stood in shock and the brilliance of the goal. Words won’t do justice to the goal so make sure you see it on television, if not the subscription fee for QPR world is worth it to see this goal.

Ainsworth ran to the QPR fans doing his air guitar celebration and was mobbed by his team mates. We were now on top and had chances to go ahead before the break. Overhead kicks by Gallen and Carlisle went close but were simple saves for the keeper and Furlong again went close with a header which he could have done better with.

With half time approaching we saw an even better goal than the first one. Ainsworth again got the ball in almost the same position as his first goal. This time he cut inside and unleashed an unbelievable curling effort into the top corner to the astonishment of the QPR fans.

Even the Rushden fans were applauding and Steve Palmer and Chris Day both stood with hands on head in amazement. It was a truly wonderful goal and I can only compare it to some of the great Matt Le Tissier goals.

The Rangers end was buzzing and as the half time whistle went no one could quite believe the brilliance of the two QPR goals. Confidence was at an all time high and we looked set to get our first away win of the season.

We started the second half where we left off the first totally in control but this time playing some much better football. Gallen was linking well with the midfield and Furlong was a constant threat.

A third goal seemed inevitable and it came after 52 minutes. A nice ball over the top by Williams saw Furlong run into it and was one on one with the keeper. He seemed to hesitate and lose the chance but then coolly stuck it through the keeper’s legs and into the net for number three. A deserved goal from Furlong and we were cruising.

As the team celebrated Bircham was taken off. He’d been disappointing again but seemed to be struggling with a hamstring injury and Holloway made a wise choice to take him off. Marcus Bean was given a chance and it was good to see a youngster brought on with the game virtually won and we had enough quality on the pitch to not only kill the game off but to go on and score more goals.

Every time Ainsworth got the ball the crowd yelled shoot but he didn’t and despite a half chance for Gallen and a few corners we didn’t really create to much more. The whole team were eager to get a goal though as Carlisle had to screamed at by Palmer to stay back for a corner. The last thing we needed was to get caught on the counter attack.

Holloway then made another change with Furlong coming off and Tony Thorpe coming on. The game looked won and it was a good chance to give Thorpe a run out. He looked sharp as well causing a few moments of panic in the Rushden defence before the referee had a mad five minutes.

A great tackle by Rowlands on the wing saw him get the ball and power it into the crowd but the referee saw that as a foul and booked him much to the disgust of the Rangers players. We then began to lose our discipline again as another foul by Bean saw him go in the book for kicking the ball away. A needless booking and Shittu was next to go in the book for arguing with the ref over a foul. Both times the ball was moved ten yards forward which was the right thing to do but frustrating as we never got that advantage when they complained to refs.

Thankfully nothing came of the free kicks and we looked pretty comfortable going into the last ten minutes.

We’d really taken our foot off the gas though and the introduction of Rushdens star man Lowe caused us a few problems.

The team had gone to sleep now and a one two cut us open and as we called for offside the defence looked in no rush to stop Paul Hall running in to easily slot the ball past Chris Day. Very lazy and sloppy defending and we were now going to be in for a tough last eight minutes.

Rushden were well up for this now but we piled forward from the restart and as Ainsworth got into the box he was hacked down by a defender but a corner was given. Ainsworth was in agony on the floor but somehow the ref didn’t see it as a foul. Then right in front of the referee Hunter decided to grab Palmer and shove him. Instead of reacting though Palmer just laughed and showed an example to a few of our players of how to react in that situation.

The corner was wasted as Williams kicked it straight out and for some reason blames everyone else for his poor delivery.

Time was running out and Gino was next in the book for a foul on the halfway line, it was his third of the game though so no surprise that he was booked. Rushden won a corner in the last minute and the game had an air of inevitability about it. The corner came in deep and despite making Danny Shittu look a short arse we left Lower completely unmarked to shoot and make it 3-3. More shocking defending by Rangers and from looking like we would run out comfortable winners we had messed it all up.

It almost got worse as a through ball saw Lowe in again and like Paul Halls goal the defence just stood and watched. Most fans put their head in hands as we looked like losing the game but Day came out and made a very good sae at Lowe’s feet before Carlisle cleared the danger.

As the fourth official showed four minutes of injury time we looked like we’d go home with nothing. We launched a few attacks but we were relieved to hear the final whistle as an easy three points turned into an absolute farce by the end of the game. Memories of Northampton a few years ago came flooding back when we also threw away a two goal lead in the last ten minutes.

This was a very disappointing result after we had played so well for 75 minutes. I’m sure the blame game will see the usual suspects accused. Palmer in midfield, Holloway’s tactics etc. but the truth was we had the game one and poor defending by players who are usually so reliable let us down badly.

We’ll have to learn from this and four points from the bank holiday weekend is probably all we deserve after being very lucky to beat Bournemouth on Saturday. The number of chances we created in this game shows that if we defend properly for the rest of the season we are more than good enough to push for promotion.

Man of the Match: Paul Furlong

Players Ratings

1. Chris Day: Made two outstanding saves to make sure we left with something rather than nothing. 7/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Excellent going forward but like on Saturday he looked tired in the last 15 minutes but all in all a good performance. 7/10

3. Gino Padula: Not at his best but defended well for most of the game. His passing was nowhere near as good as it usually is though. 7/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Good at times and awful when we needed him most. The offside trap he leads so well worked brilliantly until we fell asleep late on and after they got a second both Carlisle and Shittu were all over the place. 6/10

6. Danny Shittu: Like Carlisle he was good with long balls over the top and clearing them without a problem and worked the offside trap well but fell apart when Lowe came on. 6/10

4. Steve Palmer: Not the best or worst player on show Worked hard and played some excellent passes up to Gallen. Spent far to much time having to cover for n injured Bircham and telling Bean where to stand though and was unlucky with a long range effort. 7/10

8. Marc Bircham: Struggled from the start with his hamstring injury and probably shouldn’t have played. Was second best for most of the game in the middle and we really need him fully fit to get the best out of him. 6/10

11. Gareth Ainsworth: Two of the best goals I’ve seen in a long time and was always a threat on the right but he was quiet in the second half as we took our foot off the pedal. 7/10

33. Tommy Williams: Two great balls for the first and third goals but didn’t do a great deal else. Could have been better helping out Gino at left back but he’s a good player to have as cover. 7/10

10. Kevin Gallen: Great to see him back starting a game and from the first minute he didn’t stop working, chasing down defenders and using the ball with the common sense we rarely see from QPR players. 7/10

29. Paul Furlong: A constant threat throughout the game and was unlucky not to score more than once. He worked so hard and we never looked the same when he went off. 8/10

Subs

17. Marcus Bean: Looked totally lost when he came on and struggled badly. He'll learn from this though. 5/10

9. Tony Thorpe: worked hard but didn't get many chances. Probably needs a few games to fit in with the team. 6/10