Team Line Up
		1. Simon Royce
2. Marcus Bignot		5. Dan Shittu (c)	7. Matthew Rose		3. Mauro Milanese
11. Gareth Ainsworth		14. Martin Rowlands	40. Richard Langley		17. Lee Cook
		28. Shabaz Baidoo	30. Marc Nygaard
Subs
Paul Furlong on for Marc Nygaard
Sott Donnelly on for Richard Langley
Georges Santos on for Matthew Rose
Subs Not used:
Jake Cole
Stefan Moore

QPR's first game of 2006 saw Burnley visit Loftus Road as Rangers looked to build on recent back-to-back victories over Cardiff and Crewe.

Ian Holloway made just two changes to the side, which won so dramatically at Crewe. Mauro Milanese replaced Georges Santos whilst the injured Marc Bircham missed out with Gareth Ainsworth back in the starting eleven.

Rangers started the game brightly with the pace of Baidoo working well with Nygaard to cause Burnley's defence early problems. Langley was looking bright in central midfield and created a good early chance as he curled in a free kick on the left for Ainsworth to head over the bar.

Frank Sinclair was struggling to cope with the pace of Baidoo and was giving away several free kicks around the box but Rangers were unable to make them count with Cook, Shittu and Langley all having efforts fly over the bar.

Burnley had offered very little as an attacking force until they took the lead around the ten-minute mark. Langley thought he was fouled as he went down under a challenge on the edge of the box, Burnley broke and Rangers had several attempts to clear. Weak challenges by Rowlands and Langley were not enough to halt the move as Chris McCann managed to get away from Milanese and curl a brilliant shot into the bottom corner past Simon Royce. It was slightly against the run of play but a cracking goal nevertheless.

Paul Furlong soon replaced Marc Nygaard as the big forward picked up yet another injury. Burnley were now controlling the game though. Langley looked like his confidence had been knocked after his poor tackle before the goal and he was now giving the ball away time and time again.

Lee Cook was embarrassing himself with a pathetic display on the left as he rarely put a challenge in and looked completely disinterested.

It was a case of how many Burnley would get as their five-man midfield dominated possession. McCann went close again with a volley from 30 yards out whilst Royce made a decent save from a Mcgreal header. Burnley carved Rangers apart for the best chance of the game just before half time.

A lovely move cut us apart and the ball was rolled across the six-yard box form an unmarked Akinbyi. It looked a certain goal and the division's top scorer did every thing right making a good connection but Royce was equal to it and produced a magnificent save to keep Akinbyi out. The crowd stood as one to give Royce a standing ovation for the save and even Akinbyi too a moment to go over and shake Royce by the hand and pat him on the back.

Minutes later Royce was called into action again. This time O'Conner met a Duff cross, which was flying, into the top corner but again Royce did well to get across and keep it out.

As the board went up for three minutes injury time most fans were thankful to only be a goal down but then out of nowhere we equalised. Dan Shittu launched a long high ball forward, which looked a waste of time until Ainsworth steamed in at the far post and out jumped Harley to loop a header into the bottom corner. That was Ainsworth's fifth of the season and he is now the clubs top goal scorer.

The goal changed the mood around Loftus Road and at the start of the second half the belief was back that we could win this game despite what had been a pretty poor first half showing. Still Burnley had a chance to regain the lead when Akinbyi got away from Rose but shot over the bar.

At the other end Rangers started to get a grip of the game, Bignot pushed further forward and the forward partnership of Baidoo and Furlong began to click.

Chances were few and far between but we were pushing Burnley back and Furlong almost put us in front as he met a Lee Cook free kick, which was well saved by Jensen. Cook was at least looking interested in the second half but was still well short of his best, he went close with a free kick but in truth it was a comfortable save for Jensen.

As time wore on both sides began to look tired after a gruelling four games in seven days began to take its toll. Burnley looked happy with a point and Rangers pushed forward but lacked a killer instinct to get the three points.

Baidoo was Rangers best hope of getting a goal and he caused problems for Burnley all afternoon culminating in a neat through ball for Furlong who was clean through but blazed his shot well wide when he might have been better off squaring it to an unmarked Langley.

The Rangers fans where now keeping themselves amused by abusing the "face of pukka pies" Jensen in the Burnley goal who seemed to take it with good humour although some of the songs from the Q Block were well over the top.

Back on the pitch Scott Donnelly replaced Langley to make his home debut. Matthew Rose also went off which was a shame as he'd been one of our best players on the day and had kept the score down in the first half. Santos replaced him but it was the youngster Donnelly who looked the brighter of the two when he came on. He curled one free kick over the bar but showed great confidence on the ball to beat his man and play a neat ball through to Ainsworth late on but the final ball from Ainsworth was disappointing.

With a minute to go a couple of QPR fans got onto the pitch and ran around naked for a few minutes whilst the stewards watched and laughed before realising they were supposed to stop them getting on the pitch. A Benny Hill type chase followed with the stewards making a right pigs ear of catching a couple of naked supporters.

By now the game was all but over, a late Rowlands header hit the bar but in truth a draw was a fair result and the final whistle made sure both sides went home reasonably happy.

In the first half we were poor but an improved second half was worthy of a point. Cook was awful in the first half and Langley fell apart after he gave the ball away for the goal. I'd have taken Cook off for Santos and moved Rowlands to the left, He was that bad Santos in midfield would have been an improvement.

I thought Hyde had an excellent game for them and it was only really a brilliant save from Royce and Matthew Rose's performance that kept the score down in the first half. Second half we were much better but I thought both teams looked shattered after an hour and the crowd got a bit bored. 4 games in a week is just too much for fans and players.

We didn't play anywhere near our best but in patches in the second half we looked a decent side. Good to see Baidoo start again and he looks like he'll be a very good player, Donnelly looked bright as well when he came on. Blackburn are next where we'll probably make our annual third round exit in the FA Cup but at least the shop has been steadied after a bad run in November

Man of the Match: Matthew Rose

Players Ratings: Royce 8, Bignot 7, Milanese 7, Rose 8, (Santos 6) Shittu 7, Ainsworth 7, Langley 5 (Donnelly 7), Rowlands 6, Cook 4, Nygaard 5 (Furlong 7), Baidoo 7