Over the last few years matches against Reading have not exactly been memorable at Loftus Road and you have to go back to 1997 for the last goal scored in this fixture between the two sides when John Spencer scored for QPR in a 1-1 draw. With Reading on an unbeaten run stretching 19 games and Rangers without some key players it looked likely that the fake hoops would be celebrating in this one.

Ian Holloway had some tough decisions to make but was helped by Kevin Gallen being passed fit and in the starting line up. The only changes to Tuesday's team were the return of Lee Cook and Richard Langley with Stefan Moore and Gareth Ainsworth dropped to the bench.

Gallen started the game in central midfield with Georges Santos up front alongside Dean Sturridge. This move caused more than a few raised eyebrows but he would at least offer some physical presence up front and allow the midfield to get the ball down and play some football, which is what happened.

The game almost got off to a terrible start for Rangers, as Reading should have gone ahead after 45 seconds. Santos lost the ball on the left and a quick through ball cut Rangers open with Kevin Doyle clean through, once again Royce came to the rescue making a good save with his feet to avoid a disastrous start.

Rangers soon settled down though and were playing some nice football. Doherty and Gallen were linking well in central midfield whilst Langley was given licence to float into the middle and he almost broke the deadlock early on. Santos held the ball up well and found Sturridge who played a nice ball into space for Langley to run onto. Langley looked up and fired a low shot just wide of the post with the keeper looking beaten.

It was good to watch the team playing some nice football and Evatt almost opened his account for the club from a Cook corner but he headed wide.

Just as Rangers were gaining control of the game we fell behind to a well-taken goal. Reading showed in one move why they are on such an impressive run with a passing move that carved Rangers open. It started on the right and they passed through us with James Harpers movement off the ball too good for Doherty and he forced past Royce from just outside the box. It was a good goal but Doherty should have done better in stopping Harper and not for the first time he reacted far to slowly to what was going on around him.

Rangers kicked off and continued to control the game with Reading already looking happy to sit back for the 1-0 and with such a superb defensive record to fall back on it wasn't a bad plan.

Rangers were not creating too many chances but were playing some neat football. Santos was running is heart out up front and doing a decent job for the team whilst Gallen and Langley were starting to see more of the ball and seemed to enjoy playing together again.

On the left hand side Lee Cook was having an infuriating game. He again wore his slippers as he fell over almost every time the ball came near him. Defensively Cook just wasn't getting back quickly enough to help Dyer out at set pieces leaving Glenn Little in acres of space and Dyer was left marking three players. The next minute Cook almost got his team an equaliser with a good run which saw him beat two men but his shot was comfortably saved low by the keeper.

Kevin Gallen found himself booked for a tackle from behind and the ref showed his inconsistency by not punishing a similar tackle by Little on Doherty a few minutes later.

Lloyd Dyer was doing a decent job behind Cook though and was getting forward well to put some decent balls into the box. Reading are strong defensively though and centre back Ingimarsson was equal to anything we threw at him.

Just before half time Dean Sturridge was off injured again. I couldn't see what was wrong with him this time but two and a half games in a week were obviously took much for him. Gareth Ainsworth replaced him with a switch that saw Gallen go up front and Langley moved into central midfield. It wasn't long before the half time whistle went and Rangers were a little unlucky to go in a goal behind after a decent performance.

Rangers started the second half quickly and were soon level with a well-taken goal from Lee Cook. Ainsworth got the move going with a strong run on the right before finding Gallen with a pass and he in turn played it wide to Cook. The Rangers winger then looked up and rolled the ball into the bottom corner for his second goal of the season and the first goal scored in front of the loft from open play since August 13th.

The crowd were buzzing now and Reading quickly tried to get back in front with a quick attack down the right which won them a corner but Shittu was able to deal with the set piece.

Ranger's cause should have been helped moments later with a red card but the referee amazingly bottled the decision. For the second year in a row it was Glenn little lucky to stay on the field. At Reading last year he clearly slapped Gino Padula in the face right in front of the linesmen but nothing was done about it.

This year Little was already on a yellow card when he went in high on Doherty. It was a blatant yellow card but the ref just spoke to the Reading winger and intelligently Steve Coppell quickly took him off. Doherty was livid as were the rest of the players but the referee had made his decision and we had to get on with it.

Frustratingly we were soon behind again after some sloppy defending. Shittu looked to see out a long ball but after pressure from substitute John Oster he touched the ball out for a corner.

Ainsworth had the chance to clear the corner but sliced behind for another corner but then Rangers fell asleep. The second corner was put into the near post where the unmarked Ingimarsson headed past Royce. Poor defending again by Rangers and against teams in form such as Reading you get punished for this kind of mistakes.

Rangers didn't let their heads drop and continued to push forward looking for an equaliser. Langley was starting to get more involved in the game and was using the ball well floating one near perfect ball into the box for Santos who headed wide.

A free kick on the edge of the box got the crowd on the edge of their seats and Langley went over to take it. This weeks incompetent ref was unable to count ten yards and walked the wall back about five yards.. Langley curled the free kick over the wall but also just over the bar.

We kept huffing and puffing and playing some decent football in a game, which was quite enjoyable to watch. Gareth Ainsworth was getting the better of his full back but was unable to get the final ball in.

Santos was still working hard and chased down the full back to win the ball and whipped in a cross but no Rangers player was in the box to trouble the keeper who still managed to flap at it. Santos was getting a bit of stick from some fans but you couldn't fault his effort and he tried an audacious overhead kick, which went wide. Langley tried the same from a corner but again couldn't hit the target.

Kevin Gallen had one late chance to earn us a deserved point as he hooked the ball over the keeper from the edge of the area but his effort went onto the roof of the net and away for a goal kick.

As the final whistle went Reading celebrated as if they had won promotion and the QPR players looked devastated but were clapped off by the supporters who stayed till the end.

I thought we were unlucky yesterday and I come away quite optimistic rather than feeling down. We played some decent football trying to keep it on the floor.

The midfield was much improved especially when Langley went into the middle. I think he lacks a bit of self-belief and wants to play for the team when at times he might have been better going for a shot rather than a pass. That will come the more he plays though and he did his cause no harm at yesterday with his performance.

He won my man of the match award mainly for being of the few players I've seen for us in central midfield this season who wanted to keep the ball rather than panic and knock it long. Langley isn't afraid to get caught in possession which seems a strange thing to say but I'd rather he waited and picked out a good pass than play like a Bircham and just continually give the ball away passing into space with no QPR shirts in.

Santos got a fair bit of stick but I thought he did well, he held he ball up worked hard and chased everything. You can't expect much more from him and he looked better than Moore in that position which is slightly worrying.

The only downsides for me was the performance of Cook who despite the goal was poor. Also Doherty should have done better for the first goal as he stood and watched Harper run off him and score.

If we can continue playing like that though I think we'll do well this season and win more than we lose especially when we get Rowlands back in the side.

We go into the latest international break with two defeats in a row but with a decent run of games coming up and key players returning from injury, the future is looking quite bright.

Man of the Match: Richard Langley
Players Ratings: Royce 7, Bignot 7, Dyer 7, Evatt 7, Shittu 7, Langley 8, Gallen 7, Doherty 7, Cook 6, Santos 7, Sturridge 6 (Ainsworth 7)