Ian Holloway had the luxury of naming an unchanged side for the home match against Wrexham. Matthew Rose had been a concern with a back problem but he was passed fit to play and started again at left back. The bench was once again a strong one with three strikers and Steve Palmer on standby to play in goal if anything happened to on loan Lee Camp.

Rangers started the game attacking the school end with the fans right behind the team and we looked confident from the start. Wrexham were coming off the back of a 6-1 defeat at Peterborough on Saturday but anyone expecting an easy night were proved very wrong.

Rangers had the first chance if you can call it that. Richard Johnson fired in a shot, which looked destined for the top corner, but good defending saw the shot blocked as it looked like we might score.

Wrexham had two of their first choice central defenders back from suspension and the back three of the visitors was coping easily with whatever we had to throw at them. Darren Ferguson was virtually running the midfield with some neat passing whilst the two Edwards as wing backs were coping easily with Rowlands and McLeod. We needed a spark to get us going but it was Wrexham who came closest to opening the scoring.

A good run down the right saw a cross in for former Spurs man Chris Armstrong and his acrobatic over head kick flew just wide of Lee Camps goal. Camp was having a busier evening than he expected as he parried two long range efforts and did well coming out to collect a number of corners forced by the Welsh side.

Matthew Rose was struggling at left back but he appeared to pull up with a hamstring problem early in the game and it seemed only a matter of time before he went off. His departure from the field saw a few fans slate the defender, which was pretty uncalled for.

I’m no Mathew Rose fan but the bloke did a good job for us last Saturday and again played in this game despite not being fully fit so he could help the team out. Ian Holloway made a bold decision by bringing on Tony Thorpe and switched to a 3-4-1-2 formation. Kevin Gallen dropped back and was under orders to stop Ferguson playing and support the front two, a job he seemed to relish from the first minute.

It didn’t take long for Gallen to disposes Ferguson and set Thorpe free but the defence stood firm and kept him out. Bircham then set Gallen through but his shot was blocked away for a corner.

Rangers created very little in the opening half but were still cheered off at half time. Wrexham had looked one of the best teams to come to Loftus Road this season, a neat and tidy side who can pass the ball but just couldn’t find the finishing touch to some nice football. At the back they were strong and difficult to break down and we needed a much better second half to get the three points.

As has become the norm though at Loftus Road we started the second half on fire and pushed them on the back foot. Furlong began to cause a few problems and Richard Johnson had two efforts fly wide of the post.

Rangers weren’t being helped by an inept referee and linesmen who flagged QPR offside all game even when some players were as much as five yards onside. Some of the free kicks given against us were laughable with Thorpe being pulled up for a foul on the keeper when he was two yards away from him and the keeper just dropped a cross.

Rangers began creating chances with Gallen putting Furlong through and the big striker took his time and fired his shot inches wide of the bottom corner. The crowd were doing all they could to suck the ball in the back of the net. Gallen was at the heart of everything and a hopeful ball by Rowlands found him out wide and the QPR number ten beat his man and put in a superb cross but the defender just turned it away when McLeod looked ready to pounce.

Gallen ran over to take charge of the corner and as the fans moaned at another short corner two Wrexham defenders ran out of the box to make sure Rowlands didn’t run it straight in the middle. Rowlands and Gallen combined for Gallen to cross into the box and Clarke Carlisle arrived unmarked to head his first goal of the season and win me Ł34 for my first goalscorer bet. Thanks Clarke.

The relief was evident all around the ground and Rangers pushed on to get a second goal. Gallen was running the show in midfield now and he put Furlong through who held off his man and laid it off to Forbes and the defenders cross was headed just over his own bar by a Wrexham player.

From the resulting corner Paul Furlong headed just over and for some reason appeared to kick out at Carey which thankfully the referee missed. Furlong and Carey had a running battle up at Wrexham earlier in the season and the two of them didn’t seem to like each other very much. Furlong got the better of his man again after a Carlisle through ball but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

As three points looked in the bag we were almost caught out as the back four played the offside and Chris Armstrong broke the trap and ran clear to go one on one with Camp before once again Terrell Forbes came from nowhere and saved the day with a last ditch tackle. It’s getting silly now the number of times he’s saving us through poor defending from Carlisle and Gnohere. But to be fair to his fellow defenders they were excellent apart from that one lapse in concentration.

We needed the second goal to calm a few nerves and McLeod twice broke down the left as we looked to finish the game off but both times he sliced his cross into the upper loft.

The goal finally came in the 88th minute as we looked to hang on for the 1-0.

Gallen disposed his man on the halfway line and Furlong picked up the ball and played a fantastic ball into McLeod. The young winger ran onto it and despite a poor first touch he smashed his second touch into the bottom corner and made sure QPR moved into the top two of the second division.

We saw the rest of the game out without any problems to get a massive three points for the club. It wasn’t the best performance of the season but the team tried to pass the ball and adapted to the 3-4-1-2 system very well to run out deserved winners.

Man of the Match: Kevin Gallen

31. Lee Camp: Lee had a solid home debut. He made a few good saves and commanded his areas well. 8/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Another excellent defensive display as he got his team out of trouble and his passing was also much improved. 8/10

7. Matthew Rose: Had a bright start but was clearly struggling with injury and his performance understandably dropped to a very low standard. 6/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Got his first goal of the season and was superb once again at the heart of the QPR defence. 8/10

20. Arthur Gnohere: Like Clarke he was superb at the back and is growing with confidence the more he plays. 8/10

14. Martin Rowlands: Not the threat he can be going forward but he tucked in well to do his defensive job as a wing back. 7/10

8. Marc Bircham: Not a great game from Bircham but he worked hard and seemed to improve when Gallen dropped back into midfield. 7/10

30. Richard Johnson: Came close to scoring but this was probably his quietest game so far. 7/10

22. Kevin McLeod: Pretty poor for most of the game but he worked back to help the defence out in the second half and took his goal really well. 6/10

10. Kevin Gallen: An outstanding performance from Gallen. He chased, wont he ball and always used it well. I don;t think we would have won this game without Gallen. 9/10

29. Paul Furlong: Worked so hard up front and had a right old battle with Carey but his loss of discipline with his sneaky kick out at Carey could have cost us badly if the ref had seen it. 7/10