It had been quite a week at Loftus Road and it ended with Gary Waddock in charge and facing his first game against his former club Millwall.

Waddock made several changes to the team which lost at Leeds last week. The three loan signings Taylor, Lowe and Clarke were all dropped and have since returned to their own clubs. There were recalls for Ian Evatt and Mauro Milanese whilst Marc Bircham, Paul Furlong and Marc Nygaard all returned to the side. Paul Jones made his debut after signing on a free transfer last week.

Before the game Gary Waddock and Alan McDonald were introduced to the crowd and received a good ovation as the pair of them clapped the fans then gave each other a hug, it was great to Alan McDonald back and getting the ovation he so thoroughly deserves.

Rangers kicked off attacking towards the Loft which brought a few groans but they soon turned to cheers in a dominant first half. It was actually Millwall who started the brighter of the two sides winning an early corner and getting a few crosses over to test our back four.

Paul Jones was looking very assured in goal and comfortably claimed every cross which seemed to give the back four a little bit of confidence. The rest of the team looked a little nervous though and although the focus seemed to be on getting the ball down and movement off the ball it wasn’t really working at first as too many balls from the back were being knocked long or given away.

It took Gareth Ainsworth to get everything clicking as he set off on a charging run from his own half which ended with Lee Cook shooting wide. It wasn’t a great chance but that seemed to wake the team up and we spent the rest of the half dominating the game. Ainsworth was at the heart of most of our good work as he ran at Millwall with a great purpose and knocked over some dangerous crosses which we couldn’t quite finish off.

The best chance of the half fell to Furlong after great work by lee Cook. The Rangers winger seemed to have licence to roam and he ran at the Millwall defence before placing a lovely pass through to Furlong who was clean through but shot wide when he really should have scored. It as a nice move by Rangers though and the crowd seemed to appreciate that and were right behind the team.

We had a spell where we forced corner after corner. A short one between Furlong and Cook ended with a dangerous cross just evading Evatt. Millwall were defending the corners well but it really was a waste to have so many set pieces and fail to find a QPR player on every occasions.

The half was turning into a rout possession wise as we began to play with a swagger which has been missing for a while now. Bircham and Lomas were working well together, Cook was always a threat whilst Ainsworth was having a stormer tearing his full back apart. As ever his final ball was usually frustrating but you can’t fault the bloke’s effort and we do look a better side when he’s playing on top of his game. Ainsworth tried his luck from distance after another bursting run forward and his powerful effort beat the keeper but was just wide of the far post.

Marcus Bignot was next to have a go as the crowd screamed shoot and he obliged firing into the loft from 40 yards out as Ainsworth turned to the Loft laughing signalling don’t shout that again. We needed a goal but couldn’t get one before the break despite our dominance. One late chance came after another great Ainsworth run and the ball into the middle found Cook who shot over the bar after a neat turn.

We had two decent penalty shouts turned away as Whitbread appeared to block an Ainsworth cross with his hand but nothing was given. The same player was very lucky to get away with the second one as he looked to clearly palm the ball off Evatt’s head but again nothing was given. It was frustrating but the performance was our best for a couple of weeks and it seemed only a matter of time before we turned out possession into a goal.

As usual at half time the CES stewards did their best to ruin what was turning into an enjoyable day. Stewards blocked the entrance to the Blue and white bar meaning no one could get in our out and eventually caused a crush as people surged forward. Quite what they were trying to achieve is anyone’s guess but they do seem to be going well over the top in recent weeks in their handling of the home supporters.

Back to the football though and Rangers started the second half similar to the first which was on the back foot. Milanese was easily beaten by his man and resorted to pulling him back and found himself in the book. He was fortunate not to receive a second yellow for doing the same thing a few minutes later.

Millwall had very little to offer as an attacking force and we finally managed to grab the lead ten minutes into the half. Milanese played a nice ball into Furlong who played it wide to Ainsworth and his cross was met by Nygaard and saved at point blank range by Marshall. The rebound though fell straight to Nygaard and he volleyed into the empty net for his fifth goal of the season. In truth it was the only thing he'd done all game in a disappointing performance but once again when we needed a goal he’s been the man to produce one.

Rangers looked to add a second as we pushed forward but we weren’t quite able to create as much as we did in the first half. At the other end we rarely looked in any danger with the odd corner being claimed by Jones who was looking very impressive whilst Evatt was having a nice easy return to the first team.

Marcus Bignot went close to making it 2-0. Lee Cook started a nice passing move and Bignot played a one-two with Nygaard and found himself in the box a neat bit of skill put the defender on his arse but Bignot’s shot rolled just wide as some of the crowd were already celebrating.

Of course whenever Millwall are the visitors you can be sure the day will be filled with violence and this was no exception both on and off the pitch. Before the game the Adelaide pub was closed whilst the police presence outside was massive. Millwall fans had already caused problems in the Askew before the game and their idiots were keen to make the day as unpleasant as possible for anyone wanting to go and watch a game of football.

During the game several Millwall “fans” were positioned in the bottom corner of the school end and had seemed to be looking for trouble and with the stewards and police far too slow to react to anything.

Coins and bottles were thrown between both sets of supporters which was apparently started off when a Millwall fan threw a coin into the disabled section. The result of this was the Millwall fans were all jumping up and down like animals and several QPR fans in wheelchairs needed to be evacuated and moved to a different part of the ground. Of course as ever with Millwall I’m sure this will be someone else’s fault, probably the media. I won’t be sorry to see them go down this year.

On the pitch Millwall’s Dunne was quickly losing the plot and after kicking out at both Bircham and Lomas he was finally caught as he jumped high into Lomas and swung an elbow at the Irishman. It meant a second yellow and Lomas did well to restrain himself and just walk away. Unfortunately Bircham couldn’t help but get involved and didn’t do much to calm the situation with his antics.

Gary Waddock made a change after the sending off bringing on Shabazz Baidoo for Marc Nygaard and the changes worked with Baidoo’s pace causing problems and creating a few late chances.

He was involved to set up Furlong who got away from his man but again shot over the bar. Furlong’s all round game had again been good but he just can’t buy a goal at the moment. Baidoo himself almost got his first goal at Loftus Road when he shot from 12 yards was deflected wide.

At the other end Ian Evatt went to sleep at a corner to allow May to head straight at Paul Jones but the result didn’t really look in much doubt.

The fans then paid a touching tribute to outgoing manager Ian Holloway. A chant started in the Q block of Thank You Ian Holloway and was soon reverberating around the stadium with fans up on their feet giving Holloway a standing ovation.

In a nice touch Gary Waddock joined in the applause in the dugout in a show of respect which is quite rare in today’s game. Whatever anyone thinks of Holloway this was something he clearly deserved after his role in turning the club around which will never be forgotten. The Thank you Ian Holloway was quickly followed by a burst of Gary Waddock’s blue and white army to show support for the new man as well as a few Alan McDonald chants.

Richard Langley was brought on for Marc Bircham as five minutes of injury time were announced and we suddenly looked a little nervous. Langley tried to hold the ball in the corner to waste time but Millwall had long since given up on this game, Whitbread almost joined Dunne with an early shower when he elbowed Ainsworth but the embarrassingly bad referee managed to book Ainsworth for retaliating.

The final whistle was met with relief as the win moved us 13 points of relegation and moved Gary Waddock a big step closer to getting the managers job on a more permanent basis.

This was a much improved performance but it has to be said that Millwall were useless. You can only beat what’s in front of you though and it was the first half performance rather which was just as pleasing as the result.

Ainsworth proved he can play in a footballing side and he was my man of the match, Cook also had a much better game and seemed to have more of a free role which helped him. Nygaard was probably our worst player but he scored so we'll gloss over that. Other positives were Lomas again organising the midfield, Jones was very assured in goal and the two full backs played well. Milanese gave away a few silly free kicks in the second half but apart from that he was excellent.

Plenty to improve on and I really don't understand why we were holding the ball in the corner on 88 minutes when Millwall looked a beaten side. Still much better and a few more games like that and Waddock should get the job and looking at the table now it will take a right cock up to get sucked into trouble at this stage.

All in all a very encouraging start to the new era.

Man of the Match: Gareth Ainsworth

Players Ratings: Jones 7, Bignot 8, Milanese 7, Shittu 7, Evatt 7, Ainsworth 9, Bircham 6 (Langley 6), Lomas 7, Cook 8, Furlong 7, Nygaard 6 (Baidoo 6)