As freezing cold weekends in November go, this was one of the better ones. After seeing the brilliant new Mel Brooks show the Producers on Friday night in the West end it was off to Loftus Road on Saturday as Rangers faced the league leaders Wigan.

A suspension for Marc Bircham forced us into more changes. Marcus Bean replaced Bircham in midfield whilst Ainsworth got his first start on the season in place of the injured Tony Thorpe.

The Rangers fans were in good voice early on but you could sense an air of caution in the air with most fans realising that Rangers were up against a very good side. The early exchanges were pretty even as both teams battled to get a grip on the game. Wigan were playing the better football as they used Bullard and Mahon to keep the ball on the floor whilst Rangers opted to hit it long for Ainsworth and look to play our football in the final third.

It was the visitor’s approach, which worked better though, and it wasn't hard to see why they were top of the league. With a solid defence they kept possession well and Bullard was given so much time on the ball he was able to open us up on more than one occasion. Nathan Ellington was first to go close. A neat through ball put the lethal forward through but his finish was poor as Day comfortably saved his effort.

This spurred Rangers into action and a nice cross on the right from Bean was headed over by Furlong. Ranger’s top goal scorer went closer later when Cureton crossed from the right and Furlong shot over the bar again.

Wigan began to get on top and should have taken the lead after poor defending by Rangers. Shittu tried to shield the ball out for a goal kick but Ellington was having none of it and hustled Shittu off the ball to break clear. His pull back for Roberts looked a certain goal but Roberts fired wide. Santos was furious with Shittu’s defending and the pair had a bit of an argument as Big Dan was told in no uncertain terms not to mess about with the ball against such dangerous opposition.

Lee Cook got behind the Wigan defence to create a half chance for Bean but after this it was all Wigan as the visitors silenced the home crowd and looked like they would run out comfortable winners. Bullard and Mahon were carving Rangers apart with some neat football.

Rangers were looking nervous and a poor ball by Rose put Bean under pressure where he lost the ball. Wigan quickly broke and with Rose going forward a big gap was left on the right. Roberts played a neat ball in to Nicky Eaden who had plenty of time and space. Day came out to narrow the angle and Eaden fired wide when he really should have hit the target.

Rangers were looking all over the place and had no answer to Wigan’s forward play. Shittu and Santos had to be at their very best to keep the lively front two out but the runners from midfield and out wide were causing all sorts of problems. Bullard was next to get beyond the defence but Day did well to come out and save at the midfielders feet with an inch perfect save as the former West Ham midfielder appealed for a penalty.

As half time approached most fans were hoping for us to hold on and as Wigan pushed forward it became clear that the players were desperate to get in half time goalless. Rangers achieved this but with more luck than judgement and it was obvious we’d need to improve in the second half.

Rangers came out for the second half attacking the loft but after a ball through to Cureton was cut out by the keeper, Wigan broke again and missed another great chance to go ahead. This time it was Jason Roberts who got free of the last defender and fired wide of Chris Day’s goal. If Roberts and his strike partner Ellington had shown anything like the form of previous weeks then the game would have been over before most people had left the bar for the second half.

Rangers though were showing fantastic fighting sprit to stay in the game and as the half wore on we began to grind the visitors down. Backed by some fantastic support from the QPR fans, Bignot broke into the box but shot straight at Filan.

We were beginning to see more of the ball in the Wigan half rather than our own but the game was turning into a real scrap with very little football being played and chances now few and far between. Ainsworth was working his nuts off for the team but was getting very little joy out on the right and was eventually taken off. Kevin McLeod came on and went up front with Cureton going on the right wing.

This switch seemed to breathe new life into the team with Cureton getting more space out wide and we began to create a few chances. They all fell to Furlong who was outstanding up front. Leading the line with great authority he chested down a long ball from Bean and shot across the keeper only to see his effort fly wide of the post.

This was better though from Rangers and a spirited second half performance looked like it would be enough to win us a point. Wigan still had chances though and Alan Mahon curled in a free kick from out wide, which Day did well to save before Shittu lumped the ball clear.

Holloway then made a bold move brining on Padula for Lee Cook. Rose went to central defence and Georges Santos up front. With a point up for grabs if we could just hold on many moaned that Holloway had lost the plot but the Rangers manager was doing what we all want to see and going all out for the three points.

The move to put Santos up front at least gave us another target to hit and Wigan began to look nervous at the back faced with two big forwards rather than one. With Wigan on the back foot we were starting to get a bit more space to play in and Furlong tried an acrobatic overhead kick but his effort went over the bar.

Up in the P block the bloke a few rows in front of me who told us all to fuck off for signing Holloway's blue and white army in the last home game decided to flick wanker signs at us all when the truly deafening rendition of Ollie's blue and white army went off again. The egg on his face minutes later hopefully tasted as bitter as this bloke clearly is about Ian Holloway.

Then came a moment, which sent Loftus Road into a state of mass hysteria. Nathan Ellington fell down in a heap and instead of kicking the ball out for their player to get treatment, Wigan played on trying to score. Bullard then gave the ball away and suddenly they all called for Mcleod to put it out.

Too late as Holloway got off the bench to scream at McLeod to get forward. McLeod did this storming down the left and whipping in a brilliant cross for Furlong who seemed to rise in slow motion and headed the ball in off the post to give Rangers the lead. Loftus Road went mad with celebrations similar to those seen in the closing weeks of the last few seasons when promotion was at stake. This was a big goal for Rangers and we were very close to beating the best team in the division.

Wigan had very little answer in the closing minutes as Rangers comfortably held on to the three points, which had looked a million miles away at half time.

Wigan were by far the best team I’ve seen at Loftus Road this season but some dreadful finishing meant they went home with nothing and Rangers got the three points. We were poor in the first half but in the second we got to grips with Bullard and really battled for the win.

It wasn’t pretty, at times it was awful to watch but when you are not playing at your best you need to grind out results and this team have once again proved they are more than capable of beating anyone in this division.

Rangers now face struggling Leeds next week, which won’t be easy, but then again very few games are in this division. With the belief gained from this win against Wigan anything is possible and the battle between Paul Furlong and Clarke Carlisle should be interesting to say the least.