After Wednesday's cup exit at Aston Villa confidence was still high in the Rangers camp ahead of the visit of Leicester City to Loftus Road. Just flicking through the programme showed what a test this would be with the likes of Martin Keown, Dion Dublin, Jamie Scowcroft and David Connolly facing Rangers this was a great chance to test ourselves against one of the favourites for promotion.

Ian Holloway made several changes to the team, which pushed Aston Villa hard on Wednesday. Dan Shittu made his first league start since January whilst Matthew Rose, George Santos, Marc Bircham, Lee Cook and Paul Furlong all returned to the starting line up. Rose started at left back, which was an excellent tactical move by Holloway to counter the aerial threat of Jamie Scowcroft on the right wing. For all Gino’s strengths he would have struggled in the air against such a big side. Kevin Gallen started in midfield to give Cureton another chance upfront and the team looked to be the strongest one that Ian Holloway had available.

Dan Shittu was given a heroes reception before the game and he seemed delighted to be back in a QPR shirt something he has been dreaming of for many months now. The game started at a frantic pace with both sides keen to get the early advantage.

Rangers started brightly with Kevin Gallen looking the part in midfield. His movement off the ball to create space for players to pass to him was excellent and he was using the ball well early on. Cureton also looked a threat and he had our first chance with a good turn and shot from 30 yards which pressman did well to hold onto.

It was a battle though with Leicester using their size to try and intimidate Rangers but it wasn’t working. You can see why they get so many red cards with plenty 'of off the ball' incidents going on. Connolly and Bircham were involved in a bit of a tussle, which ended with Connolly pushing Bircham to the floor. It was pretty silly stuff but both players got a booking for it.

It was an even game with Rangers looking sharp going forward but chances were few and far between. Just as Rangers started to get on top disaster struck as Leicester took the lead.

A ball over the top for Connolly found the former West Ham man sprinting through and he looked more than a few yards offside. Day sprinted out and headed away from Connolly but the ball fell to Nathan Blake. The much travelled striker shot but Day blocked it with his foot. Blake had another go and Scowcroft turned in his cross for a very soft goal with neither Shittu or Santos marking the big forward.

Rangers responded well though and went out looking for an equaliser. Cook wasn’t getting much joy on the left but Rowlands got into some good positions to set up Bignot for crosses and Furlong headed over the bar from one of these chances.

More trouble on the pitch followed as a long ball for Furlong to chase ended in chaos. Keown blatantly blocked the run of Furlong and both players ended up having a good swing at each other and thankfully missing. The referee was well behind play so had to ask his linesmen what happened and both players were booked when in truth they should have both been sent off.

Keown became the subject of much abuse from the QPR fans who pointed out to the old defender he had a face like a monkey, which he didn’t seem to appreciate.

Nathan Blade was next to get some stick as he got a bit of stick from the Ellerslie Road stand. Blake responded by showing the QPR fans his badge and giving it a kiss, which was laughable when you consider how many clubs this bloke has played for and he’s only been at Leicester five minutes. Perhaps he was checking who he was playing for this week. Blake obviously had a high opinion of himself but I’m not sure why as he is a shadow of the player he was a few years ago and he was rarely out of George Santos pocket during the first half.

Rangers went close to drawing level before the break after a good ball in from Rowlands was hacked at by Dabizas and he missed it completely to give Furlong a chance but the in form striker shot wide when he should have hit the target.

A 1-0 deficit at half time wouldn’t have been a disaster but it was made into one as the board came up to show how much injury time we’d have. David Connolly was given time and space to run at us and curled a quite brilliant shot into the top corner giving Chris Day no chance. It was a touch of class and showed why Leicester paid so much for him in the summer.

Bircham let fly from 25 yards just before the break but Pressman saved his low shot and we went in at half time very unlucky to be two goals behind. It was going to be an uphill struggle now. I felt we needed to make one change at the break as Cook was being pushed off the ball to easily and the introduction of Mcleod seemed a wise move but Holloway kept the same eleven and we came out looking for an early goal to put us back in the game.

Leicester were defending well early in the half as we pushed hard to get back in the game but there seemed to be no way through despite the hard work of the players. Then a chance came. A long ball up field by Leicester saw Connolly go up with Santos and Connolly decided to jump with his elbow into Santos face. Whether he meant to or not didn’t really matter and he was heading for an early bath. A quite stupid thing to do and it’s safe to say this cost the visitors the match, as they were comfortable at this point.

Against ten men it is never easy but it was made easier as Leicester changed things to push Dublin up front and go to a flat back four. We now had more space to work in and we used the ball very well in a brilliant second half.

You could sense a goal coming and from a Lee Cook corner Rose headed into the net at the far post only to see it ruled out. Thanks to the bloke a few rows behind me who stopped my screams at the ref. I was sure he’d given offside despite their being two men on the line but the bloke behind informed me that it had gone straight out from Cook and then backing again so it was a goal kick. Damn, now I couldn’t even blame the ref for us not being back in the game.

A goal did come soon after though and send Loftus Road into a frenzy. Rowlands and Bignot again combined well and the right back whipped in an excellent cross for the unmarked cook to leap at with a diving header, which Pressman couldn’t keep out. The stadium erupted and the atmosphere was now similar to the Oldham play off game with the fans right behind the team trying to suck the ball in.

We were storming forward at every opportunity as Cook got into the game more as did Rowlands and chances began to come. It took some desperate defending form the visitors to keep us out. Shittu headed just wide from another Cook corner whilst Furlong had another effort saved.

Holloway had Mcleod stripped and ready to come on (probably for Cook) before Rangers got themselves level. Rowlands did well on the right swinging in an inch perfect cross. Leicester tried to play offside but just left Furlong, Cureton and Cook all unmarked and Furlong powered his header past Pressman to draw us level.

Leicester were all over the place but continued to try and win the game which played into our hands we as made use of the space on both wings and created chances.

Jason Wilcox threw his toys out of the pram when a girl who looked about 15 in the Ellerslie Road stand held the ball out for him to take a throw in. Wilcox shat himself refusing to take the ball complaining to the ref that the lady was calling him a rude name and Furlong just told him to get on with it. I suppose its bottle like that which made sure Wilcox and his teammates disappeared from the Premiership at Leeds without much of a fight.

Rangers were in control and looked to be the only likely winner. After I'd called for Cook to go off he was playing some excellent stuff on the left twisting his defender all over the place and putting some excellent crosses in. Holloway opted for a change with McLeod coming on to add some height to the attack. Rowlands looked unhappy to be taken off but it was a good tactical move by the manager.

We continued to create chances and with just minutes left a good ball to the far post found Cook whose header was flying into the top corner before pressman made an unbelievable save to scoop it out. It was hard not to applaud the goalkeeper who showed that despite being a little on the porky side he had still had enough agility to make a stunning save.

The crowd were urging the team on and we got our reward in the very last minute. Cook did well on the left and put in a fabulous cross. Furlong threw himself at it and his header beat Pressman to send the Loftus Road faithful into frenzy. All the players did the Klinsmann celebration to the corner flag as it was announced over the tannoy that Dan Shittu had got the goal. Despite seeing Furlong score with my own eyes I somehow believed it was Shittu who had scored and sang chim chimney as if my life depended on it.

Rangers hung on during injury time and almost added a fourth when the impressive Cureton beat Dabiazs for pace and fired just wide. The full time whistle was met with great scenes of celebration as we had come from 2-0 down to beat a team who were in the Premiership just a few months ago.

The fans strayed behind to give every player a standing ovation and Shittu looked close to tears as he lapped up the applause he so richly deserves.

Four league wins in a row for Rangers move us to joint 5th in the table, which is a fantastic achievement after 10 games. Although promotion is probably beyond us this season the excitement we’re getting at the moment (three five goal thrillers in the last 4 games) is brilliant and long may it continue.