After a good win in the Carling Cup, QPR travelled to Gillingham on Friday night looking for a first league win of the season. With the game live on Sky and tickets priced at £24 for a temporary stand plenty of fans gave this a miss. But it was a new ground for me so I made the short trip down to Kent and just hoped the rain would hold off and not soak us on the uncovered joke of a stand.

Holloway made a few changes to the team which won on Tuesday. Shittu and Cureton were left out with Bean and Johnson back into the side, which was the same as the one who lost to Derby last Saturday.

The game was a battle from the start as Gillingham looked to hit long balls to Iwan Roberts whilst Bean and player/manager Andy Hessenthaler were having a right old battle in midfield.

George Santos needed to be at his best at the heart of the back four with Roberts looking a real handful and both of them were fouling each other from the first minute with Santos just about having the upper hand between the two players.

Rangers looked dangerous on the break but again a lack of pace up front made it difficult for us to break down the home side. We began to get a grip on the game though and created one or two chances. Johnson set up Lee Cook who went on a good run and fired a shot from the edge of the box but it hit the outside of the post and went wide.

We did break the deadlock just before the half hour mark with what looked like a comedy goal but turned out to be a controversial one. Gallen did well on the left and passed to Rowlands who cut into the box and played the ball into the middle. From my view at the time it looked like Furlong tried to get on the end of it, fell over and it somehow got bundled over the line. Ranger’s fans sung Furlongs name as we celebrated our one goal lead.

Television pictures paint a different story but the view from the dump of an away end wasn’t the best. Rowlands cross found Bean who tried a nice back heel, which was saved by the keeper. Bean fell over and as he tried to get up and turn the rebound in he ended up punching the ball into the empty net. It was handball and the Gillingham players went mad but I don’t think Bean knew much about it and after some of the very dodgy decisions given against us in the first four games it was about time we got a crap decision given in our favor. Fair play to Bean for apologising for the handball after the game.

Gillingham response was to kick Bean at every opportunity and player/manager Andy Hessenthaler led by example by just chasing the ref for 20 minutes calling him a cheat along with a few expletives. He ended up getting booked for dissent and it was hardly the best example to set to his team.

Rangers were in control and should have gone further ahead soon after. Johnson broke into the box and as he was about to shoot he was clearly hacked down from behind for a blatant penalty. The ref looked like he had realised he’d made a mistake for the goal and tried to even things up by not giving it.

Furlong then went close with a header after good work by Rowlands as we looked to kill the game off. Gillingham didn’t look too dangerous coming forward and anytime they got near our goal they found Santos and Forbes in superb form. Santos was winning plenty in the air against a real danger in Iwan Roberts and it was great to see.

The half time whistle saw Hessenthaler continue to have a go at the referee when perhaps his time and breath would have been better spent organising his team, which looked dire in the opening 45 minutes.

Gillingham did start the second half better and almost got level quickly after the re start. Danny Spiller looked like he had levelled the scores with a cracking effort but Chris Day produced a brilliant save to keep us ahead. Gillingham then thought they had equalised before the linesmen’s flag denied them. Iwan Roberts was at least five yards offside when the ball was played and the goal was rightly ruled out.

The 10 Gillingham fans to our right who had been giving it large all game went into overdrive with one of the running up to us doing a weird dance that was like a five year old waving his fingers at us to tell us the score. The wanker signs he got in return didn’t stop him and it needed one of his mates to tap him on the shoulder and point out they hadn’t scored. He looked a bit of a mug after that and ended up arguing with some of his own fans.

Most of the excitement was going on in the home end as one fed up Gillingham fan started cheering for QPR and was quickly thrown out as fans turned on him. It was amusing to watch as he was thrown out despite showing off his Gillingham tattoo saying I was only joking.

Back on the pitch Gillingham pushed hard for an equaliser but the back four were dealing with everything they had to throw at us. We were hit with a blow though when Forbes had to go off injured. Richard Edghill replaced him and slotted into central defence giving us a rather small back four which was worrying from set pieces and crosses into the box. Edghill did brilliantly though taking Darren Byfield out of Terrell Forbes pocket and putting him in his own.

Gillingham threw everything at us but we still looked dangerous on the break. One good break by Lee Cook almost brought a goal but he didn’t manage an effort on target.

Holloway made a good tactical switch putting Gallen into midfield and playing a 4-5-1, which made us very difficult to break down. Hessenthaler then had a kick off the ball at Gallen, which should have seen the little prick sent off but the ref bottled it and just gave us a free kick.

Gillingham were reduced to long range efforts but twice went close through Barry Ashby with Day denying him on both occasions. A good break down the right almost got us a killer goal. Rowlands did well to beat his man and picked out Gallen with a lovely pass but the Rangers captain shot straight at the keeper.

Marc Bircham and Jamie Cureton were brought on to add some fresh legs with Cook and Johnson going off. Cureton looked very sharp and slotted in well on the left wing.

With time running out we began to give away some free kicks around the box. The Rangers fans began to panic but the defence stood firm and the board went up to give Gillingham three minutes to equalise. In fact they got four and a half as the ref seemed unable to tell the time but they never looked like scoring and we had won our first league game of the season.

It was very hard fought and not very pretty but that was a win we badly needed and it will hopefully give us the confidence to push on and do better in the coming weeks. After all the panic on message boards about our league position the win moves us up to 18th, just two points off the playoffs.

We now face Sheffield United on Tuesday, which will be a tough game, but if we can battle and work as hard as we did in this game we should do ok. We will need to keep possession far better than in this game and a dip into the loan market may be required if Forbes is going to be out for a few weeks.