For the first time in three years Rangers found themselves in the third round of the FA Cup and all the dreams of a cup run began again for another year. It wasn't going to be easy though.

Nottingham Forest were the visitors to Loftus Road as Ian Holloway had most of his first team missing. Southampton wouldn't let Leon best play so he was missing but Ian Holloway wasn't to happy to Southampton had let Yoann Folly make his debut for Nottingham Forest on loan from Southampton. Georges Santos and Paul Furlong were suspended whilst Adam Miller was cup tied and illness kept out Marcus Bignot and Marc Bircham.

So the team Holloway had to pick was always going to be interesting. Rangers gave starts to Serge Branco at right back with Ainsworth, Cureton, Cook and Marcus Bean all back in the side after being left out of Mondays defeat ay Leicester City.

Rangers started brightly with the new look line up. McLeod and Cook were linking well on the left with Rowlands looking decent in central midfield.

A nice passing move involving Gallen and Rowlands sent Cook clear but Paul Gerrard did well to come off his line and collect at Cook's feet. Rowlands was next to have a chance for Rangers after Ainsworth played him in and he fired his effort, which was well saved by Gerrard. At the other end Kevin McLeod began to look a little nervous defensively as Andy Reid went past him twice but his final ball was poor.

Rangers were just about on top though and had chances to take the lead. Jamie Cureton cut inside to find Gallen but his shot beat the keeper but hit the bar before bouncing away to safety. A series of corners brought little joy to Rangers as Cook continuously hit the man at the front post rather than the Rangers players in the middle.

Soon after Forest took the lead. Andy Reid burst towards the Rangers goal but Shittu clumsily brought him down to give them a free kick right on the edge of the box. Reid stood over it and there was only one place this was going and that was the top left hand corner.

Gareth Ainsworth stood on the line but Gareth Taylor and Wes Morgan stood in front of Day so Ainsworth came off the line to play them offside. Day though should have stood a yard or so over to his left as the free kick was going in the same place and Reid curled it in the top corner with Day too far away to get anywhere near it. It was a very well taken free kick by Reid but Day really should have done better with it.

Forest soon made it 2-0 with what was either a brilliant goal or a bit of a freak goal depending on your view. Kris Commons had time and space 40 yards out and with Day well off his line he tried his luck with a lob which was helped in by a strong wind with Day just watching it go over his head and in.

The game was virtually all over now with Rangers looking very low in confidence.

Andy Reid put the ball in the net for a 3rd but it was ruled out for a foul and some fans booed off the team as the half time whistle went. We were going to need a massive performance from our key players in the second half to get anything out of the game.

Rangers almost fell further behind though at the start of the second half with sloppy defending at a corner but we went on to get on top for most of the second half. Rangers huffed and puffed as Forest sat back to hold onto their lead and made it difficult for us.

Jamie Cureton held off Morgan and fired in a shot but Morgan did well to block it and give away a corner. Rangers piled on the pressure as the corners rained in on the Forest goal but the visitors were able to scramble away any half chances as the set pieces lacked enough quality to trouble Forest.

Gareth Ainsworth met one of them though with a header which was cleared off the line as it looked like it wasn't going to be our day. Ainsworth was working hard on the right and one good run and a powerful shot was saved by Gerrard as the home side began to get frustrated.

A Lee Cook free kick from a similar position to Andy Reid's in the first half was curled over the bar as the home fans began to leave.

With time running out the disappointing Lee Cook was replaced by Gino Padula as Mcleod pushed further forward, Serge Branco also made way for Tony Thorpe as we switched to a 3-4-3. Rangers continued to push hard to get back in the game but you could sense the players didn't really believe we could get back in it and Forest were soon 3-0 up.

To rub salt in the wound it was Yoann Folly who got the third. After Southampton wouldn't let Leon Best play for Rangers, Folly was making his debut for Forest on loan from Southampton and his shot from the edge of the box deflected off Padula and flew into the top corner. This was the queue for most of the crowd to leave and we must only have had about 5,000 left in the stadium by the time the full time whistle went.

So anther early cup exit for Rangers but it was the performance rather than the result, which was the most worrying. I can usually find a few positives after a defeat but this was absolutely dire. Holloway didn't have much choice with the players he had out but even I thought McLeod at left back with Gino on the bench was little odd to say the least. To be fair to Branco I thought he had a decent first half at right back, nowhere near as good as Bignot but he didn't do much wrong.

When you have so many players out we needed our key men to have big games for us. Sadly our key players were toilet. Gallen, Shittu, Day and Cook all had very poor games. The movement of the front two was just non-existent and they gave no option to their teammates for anything other than a long ball. If they want the ball they need to drop off and get it rather than stand next to the last defender and wonder why it gets hoofed to them. I'd forgotten Cureton was playing until he came over to clap us at the end.

As Holloway has said it was disappointing to see so many leave with 10minutes left but to be fair I don't really blame anyone for going as it was rubbish and to be honest I was more disappointed by the players for not coming over to clap those of us who stayed to the end. Credit to Day, Cureton and Ainsworth for bothering to acknowledge us but the rest couldn't get down the tunnel quickly enough.

The way things are going we really have our backs against the wall at the moment but we need to come out fighting starting on Friday. Furlong and Santos being back will help us but we need a hell of a lot of noise from the crowd on Friday to keep the team going as once again heads really went down when they scored both on the pitch and in the stands. Shame Rowlands is suspended on Friday as I thought he showed signs that he could be the answer in central midfield.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Gareth Ainsworth

Players Ratings: Day 6, Branco 6 McLeod 6, Shittu 6, Edghill 6, Bean 6, Rowlands 6, Cook 5, Ainsworth 7, Gallen 5, Cureton 5. Subs: Thorpe 6, Padula 6