Paul Furlong was the lone striker whilst Matthew Rose was back in place of the suspended Andrew Davies. The subs bench was again a young one with Jake Cole, Shabazz Baidoo and Pat Kanyuka sitting alongside the more experienced Cureton and Edghill.

Problems on the trains meant that the game was delayed by fifteen minutes, which gave the fans a bit more drinking time before the game started. It was a full house at Loftus Road which a cracking atmosphere and former QPR defender Clarke Carlisle got a mixed reception from the QPR fans with plenty of boos and just as many claps in appreciation of the job he did for the team during his four years at QPR.

Ranger’s started the better of the two sides with Gallen at the heart of most of our moves and Gino Padula blasted our first real chance high over the bar. Padula was looking to impress Holloway and earn a new deal and once again he was giving his manager every reason to want to keep the popular Argentinean defender.

Danny Shittu went head to head with his former teammate Clarke Carlisle as he burst forward but was brought down by Carlisle. Shittu seemed to be hurt and spent most of the rest of the afternoon limping but played on through the pain.

Rangers were denied what looked like a clear penalty after fifteen minutes. A week ago we lost to a last minuet penalty for shirt pulling but this week being wrestled to the floor in the box sees the ref wave play on. A nice ball by Cook to Bircham put him into the box and Kelly had both arms around Bircham as he pulled him down but nothing was given.

Rangers were not happy with the decision and it seemed to affect us as Leeds began to take control of the game in a scrappy ten minutes. The QPR fans kept themselves amused with a few digs at the board for the season ticket rises. “Rangers till I’m Skint” and “505 your having a laugh” were just two of the songs aimed at letting the club know fans are not best pleased with the new ticket prices.

Back to the game and the fat linemsen in front of the Ellerslie Road stand was having trouble keeping up with play and angered the QPR fans by not flagging two Leeds players offside, which resulted in the visitors winning a corner.

This was to prove costly, as the corner was half cleared to Seth Johnson who fired past the unsighted Chris Day into the bottom corner. This finally woke up the almost silent Leeds supporters and we had an uphill struggle on our hands.

Paul Furlong almost got us level straight away but his first touch let him down before a recurrence of his hamstring injury forced him off. Jamie Cureton replaced him as the team took a while to get used to the reshuffle which saw Gallen go up front and Cureton move out wide.

Cureton almost got us level after good work by Cook saw him beat his man and float a ball to the far past. Cureton headed back across goal rather than going for goal and Gallen’s touch was cleared off the line by Carlisle. Half time saw Rangers clapped off but we needed to step up a bit of we were going to get anything out of the game.

Rangers began the second half with a much quicker temp. Chris Day was rolling the ball out to his full backs and we looked the better side from the first whistle. Lee Cook was starting to get more involved and one excellent cross was crying out for someone to attack it but Galen and Cureton couldn’t get on the end of it.

Gallen was looking back to his best up front and he fired a cracking effort just the wrong side of the post as the Ranger’s fans began to find their voices.

Chances were hard to come by but we were playing some decent football and Clarke Carlisle denied Danny Shittu with an excellent defensive header just as Shittu was about to head home. Shittu did meet a Lee Cook corner but his header floated over the bar.

Clarke Carlisle almost scored an own goal as the pressure mounted and he lifted the ball over Sullivan and just over the bar. Carlisle was having a busy afternoon and from another corner he appeared to raise his arm and punch the ball clear. The ref and linesmen had a great view of it but bottled giving a penalty much to the amazement of most of the stadium.

The impressive Stefan Bailey had one glimpse of goal but fired over the bar and Adam Miller saw his header drift just wide of the post as the frustrations grew around Loftus Road.

As Dan Shittu was receiving treatment Shaun Derry earned himself a needless red card. After arguing with Bircham and Gallen about him not kicking the ball out he raised his hands and appeared to slap Gallen right in front of the ref. It was all handbags really nut a bloody stupid thing to do and he was sent off.

Rangers now had a chance to get back in the game and pushed for an equaliser. Holloway was forced into two more changes as Matthew Rose hobbled off with Edghill coming on. Stefan Bailey was also brought off to a standing ovation and Shabazz Baidoo was given a chance to shine on a three-man attack. Baidoo was very lively and his pace caused a few problems as we pushed Leeds back.

With time running out we finally got the goal we deserved. Baidoo played a nice pass to Gallen whose dummy fooled the Leeds defence allowing him to run into some space his initial shot was saved by Sullivan but he smashed the rebound into the back of the net much to the relief of the blue and white half of the sell out crowd.

It was all Rangers now and from a similar position Gallen blasted over the bar before we got a golden chance to win the game. It was Gallen again who went close after good work by Cook he held off his man and shot past Sullivan into the bottom corner but it hit the post and rolled away to safety.

Three minutes of injury time were added and it was just enough to see Adam Miller sent off. After an early booking for a foul on Carlisle he got a second yellow for a poor tackle giving the ref little option but to send him off.

The final whistle saw Rangers clapped off the field after a good performance, which should have earned us more than a single point.

It was good to see Holloway try something different yesterday with what looked like a 4-2-3-1 formation, which became a 4-3-3 later in the half. With the season virtually over we may as well try a few different systems out and I thought it worked ok especially in the second half.

It was also good to see Bailey start the game, I thought he was very promising once again. He got stuck in and although he made a few mistakes giving the ball away he never let his head go down and also tried a few defence splitting passes which the forwards didn't read but it was great to see him have the confidence to try that.

Baidoo also looked very sharp when he came on and gave Carlisle plenty of problems. Carlisle had been excellent for most of the game but against some genuine pace he looked a different player. It was also good to see the experienced players like Gallen, Bircham and Rose talking to the youngsters and helping them through the game. Bircham in particular was quick to go over and praise Bailey all through the game, which seemed to help build his confidence.

Day and Padula both did well although Day's kicking was poor in the first half. I thought we deserved to win the game but results are not exactly crucial now as we start to plan for next season.