Another game another disappointment as for the third year in a row QPR fans travelled home with a Boxing Day defeat.

This year it was a trip to Brighton and early morning departure with a Christmas hangover. After a few pints in the Sportsmen pub next to the ground we made our way to the new stand at Brighton behind the goal. In past years this has just been a field but now they have put in around 800 extra seats and with the running track around the pitch it brought back memories of Stamford Bridge before 1993.

Rangers came out to the left of us with just two changes to the team that lost against Coventry. Jake Cole replaced the suspended Simon Royce to make his full debut whilst Paul Furlong made a welcome return up front in place of the suspended Santos.

The loudest noise from the Rangers end all afternoon was reserved for referee Rob Styles who was booed as he ran onto the pitch and treated us to his usual impotent performance.

The game started with Rangers pumping long balls over Stefan Moore’s head and Brighton’s game plan seemed to be to knock long balls over Dan Shittu's head. Not one for the purists this. Brighton looked the brighter side and should have been facing ten men after just four minutes. Marcus bean miss timed his tackle and caught Charlie Oatway with a very nasty looking tackle from behind. Amazingly Bean escaped a booking when I thought he’d be having an early shower. Oatway looked in some pain as he was carried off and the St Johns Ambulance men and women could have moved themselves a little quicker to get over and help him.

From the free kick Rangers just about managed to scrape the ball clear but we were soon behind. This time it was Langley guilty of a foul on the same wing and he was in the book although to be fair to Langley the foul was nowhere near as bad as bean’s and he ended up in the book more due to Bean’s handy work than his own. From the free kick Carpenter curled the ball in and Shittu offered little resistance to Guy Butters to head past Jake Cole. So a goal down already and the defence were giving naff all protection to the youngster in goal.

It could and probably should have been worse as Brighton ran Rangers ragged in the early stages. Jake Cole made one smart low save after some abysmal defending whilst every corner and free kick was met with mass confusion in the Rangers back four. Going forward we were pathetic and unable to put more than one pass together. Sitting in the freezing cold on an open terrace on Boxing Day at Brighton never seemed less appealing.

The Rangers fans sat in near silence and it was hard to even get angry about the performance and most just laughed when Tim Breaker got sent off for something he said to Rob Styles.

By half time we’d had just one attempt on goal which was just a weak header by Moore it appeared to go in slow motion. As the players walked off they got plenty of abuse from the frozen QPR fans and even Ian Holloway felt some of the wrath of the travelling faithful.

After a bollocking from Holloway in the dressing room by the away fans toilets the teams came back onto the pitch with no changes from Rangers although it was only a matter of time before Nygaard would come on.

Rangers did look a little better after the break which wasn’t difficult. A foul on Langley, then one on Furlong and finally a hack at Rowlands got us a free kick, it takes three fouls for one to be given with this idiot. It was in Langley territory but we waited far to along to take it and by the time we got ready Brighton had put a man on the post. Langley still managed to hit the target with a well taken curler but the keeper got down to parry it away with not one QPR player bothering to pounce on the rebound.

Rangers made a few changes which finally brought some life into the team. Marc Nygaard replaced Stefan Moore who had suffered from having balls played three foot over his head all game rather than on the floor. Lee Cook also came on replaced Marcus Bean as Langley joined Rowlands in an attacking central midfield. The changes finally gave Brighton something to worry about. Nygaard made an instant impact winning headers and having one shot fly wide. Cook was also lively offering much needed width and ironically now we had the big man on we were playing a bit more football on the floor.

Lee Cook went close with a dipping volley which was well saved whilst Nygaard did well to get the ball round the keeper and pull it back but again no sod had read the move and it was easily cleared. We were getting more joy from set pieces as Evatt had a header cleared off the line but at the other end we still looked a shambles.

Colin Kazim-Richards got away from Shittu and smashed in a powerful shot which was brilliantly saved by Jake Cole who was one of the only plus points of the game. Mark Mcammon also went close to killing the game off by again Jake Cole was equal to a good effort with a quality save.

Marc Bircham was brought on to replace Bean who was booked for a second rash tackle. Bircham looked out more creative central midfield player ion the day just sitting deep and spraying the ball around. When Bircham is the most creative player you certainly have problems. Rowlands moved to the right and finally got into the game beating his full back several times and on one of these occasions he rolled the ball past the keeper for Furlong to grab an open goal but Butters beat Furlong to the ball and did really well to scoop the ball over his own bar.

Furlong had another late chance to equalise but rushed his shot which flew over the bar and the game was lost. I didn’t hang around to see what the reaction to the players and manager was as they walked off as I wanted to get back home for a beer as quickly as possible.

So a second defeat in a row and not many positives to come out of it. I'd blame the players as much as Holloway for the performance.

With Jake Cole making his debut we needed a strong performance from the back four and they all played like clowns. Shittu was hopeless and although he was fouled for the goal he didn't make much of an attempt to win the header in the first place and made Mark Mcammon look like Henry for the second year running.

Bean was lucky to stay on the pitch for a dreadful foul on Oatway, typical Styles to let him get away with that and then book Langley for a nothing foul minutes later.

The only ray of hope was the performance in the second half where we controlled the game in patches, played some decent stuff and should have got a point. It wasn't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination but we did deserve a point out of the game which was probably due to how bad Brighton were compared to our performance. The turning point came when Nygaard came on and at last Furlong had some support. Rowlands going out wide also helped and Cook made sure Brighton were stretched more in the second half. Bircham also did well when he came on and was far more effective in central midfield than Rowlands (and no I didn't think I'd ever say that).

I know the calls for ollie’s head are growing and it's hard to argue his case when we play like we have in the last two games. The next few days are crucial to his and our future though. We need to win two of these next three games to halt the slide down the table and that won't be easy. For now I don't really care who the manager is but we really need a result tonight to help the club rather than the manager. Unfortunately too many people have lost perspective and it's all about Holloway now rather than QPR.

Man of the Match: Jake Cole

Players Ratings: Cole 7, Bignot 6, Dyer 6, Shittu 5, Evatt 6, Ainsworth 6 (Bircham 7) Bean 6 (Cook 7), Rowlands 5, Langley 6, Furlong 7, Moore 5 (Nygaard 7)