After the annual FA Cup exit last week it was back to league action and a rather exciting one as Southampton were the visitors. They’ve not been particularly brilliant this season but they did bring with them the so called next big thing in Theo Walcott, a 16 year old being called the new Thierry Henry and close to a £15 million move to Arsenal.

The buzz about how good this kid certainly added a bit of spice to this fixture with both sets of fans on the edge of their seats every time the ball went close to the youngster. It was down to Marcus Bignot to stop Walcott in a Rangers side with two changes to the one which lost at Blackburn as Steve Lomas and Gareth Ainsworth came in for Milanese and the injured Martin Rowlands. Matthew Rose passed a late fitness test to start at left back.

Before the game both sets of fans stood for a well observed minutes silence for the QPR chaplain Dave Langdon who recently passed away before Rangers kicked off with Lomas launching a high ball into the Ellerslie Road stand. Thankfully this wasn’t a sign of what was to come as the experienced midfield man helped Rangers to get the ball down and play in a good opening 20 minutes.

All eyes were on Walcott but he was being well marshalled by Bignot and star men of the early stages were Cook and Langley for Rangers. Cook seems to have a new lease of life when Rose plays behind him and he was picking up the ball from deep and running at Southampton from the start which was so good to see after some recent below par performances. Cook was not afraid to have a shit and was working Paul Smith in the Southampton goal early on with a near post shot which was well saved.

Rangers were knocking the ball about with confidence and when we didn’t have it the players were working so hard to win it back giving Southampton no time to get any moves going. The Saints did have a few early chances to take the lead. Walcott forced Bignot to concede a corner and the youngster floated a lovely cross in for Powell to meet but Bignot cleared it off the line, Belmadi was next to have a go as a throw in found him in the box and his curling effort beat Royce but had a bit to much swerve on it and was off target.

At the other end Rangers were having the better of it and a sweeping move saw Langley fire a shot over the bar. Lee Cook was still our main danger man and had the beating of his full back. He smashed another shot in from outside the box which was on target but not strong enough to beat Smith.

Rangers had two penalty appeals turned away. The first looked a clear handball as Bignot’s cross was punched away by Powell. The second appeal was less convincing as Baidoo played it against Powells hand and it was only really the crowd that half heartedly appealed that one. We did get a penalty after twenty minutes though for a clear foul on Ainsworth.

It was Cook again who had a hand in it seeing his shot from distance parried by Smith. Higgingbottom sliced the clearance and as Ainsworth looked to get onto the ball he was shoved over for a blatant penalty.

Langley was the man to take the penalty and after a short delay he strolled up, did that shimmy thing that always makes me nervous and stroked the ball into the back of the net. The keeper made it a bit easy for him by leaving a gap to his left but Langley did well to finish it off for his third goal of the season.

The goal should have seen us push on for more but as so often happens we began to sit back and made a few problems for ourselves. Quashie began to control the game but for all the visitors possession they only really created one chance which came via a mistake. Santos sliced a clearance and the ball back in was half cleared by Shittu for Walcott to smash a shot in which Royce did well to keep out.

It was Rangers who had the ball in the back of the net again before half time. Once again Lee Cook was the provider shooting from the edge of the box which Smith parried and Furlong tapped in the rebound but was flagged offside. It looked harsh at the time but the television replay shows he was a year offside.

At half time the team got a great ovation, we’d played well and worked so hard. Southampton had more possession but we looked the more likely to score and that theme continued after the break. Southampton had plenty of possession but the midfield pair of Lomas and Langley were breaking most moves up and when they did get a cross in Shittu was magnificent in winning almost every header to clear any danger. Rangers continued to have chances on the break as the pace of Baidoo continued to cause problems and his shot on the turn won us a corner which came to nothing.

Cook had two more efforts on targets after being set up by Langley but although both were on target they again lacked the power to beat the keeper. Southampton began to pile on some pressure as we sat deeper and deeper but for all their possession they didn’t really look like scoring from open play. A Belmadi free kick was saved by Royce whilst Quashie had a crack from 30 yards out but was nowhere near troubling Royce.

The Saints then got a bit of luck as Santos went down injured and was stretched off. Prav initially signalled that Georges would be ok so no sub was brought on. With Rangers down to 10 men Walcott showed some of his quality with a turn of pace which left Rose and Cook for dead, his ball was half cleared to Quashie who shot by a sniper in the Ellerslie Road stand and went down for a penalty. Well I assume he was shot as no QPR player appeared to touch him and he went down in agony before making a miracle recovery.

Quashie got up to take the penalty whilst Langley tried a bit of gamesmanship stopping the penalty being taken for a minute or so. His tactic worked as Quashie strolled up and stroked the penalty against the post and then threw himself to the floor again to try and win another penalty under the challenge of Shittu. The ref wasn’t fooled though and gave a free kick to QPR due to Quashie touching the rebound before anyone else. The stadium was in celebration mode now as we sensed luck was on our side.

New signing Andy Taylor was brought on for Santos and slotted in at left back. Taylor looked impressive on the ball and like Rose and Bignot before him managed to keep Walcott quiet.

Rangers made two more late changes as Scott Donnelly and Stefan Moore replaced Ainsworth and Baidoo. Moore almost capped a decent performance with a goal as he played a lovely nutmeg on the edge of the box and tried to lift the ball over Smith but the keeper did well to deny Moore a third goal of the season.

With time running out Southampton had long run since run out of ideas and we were pretty comfortable holding onto the ball for the final few minutes before the final whistle signalled another three points for QPR, which make sit three wins in the last four league games.

This was a good performance by Rangers and an excellent result. The team worked so hard from the first minute to the last and played some decent football along the way as well. The back four were all excellent especially Bignot and Shittu whilst Rose once again managed to get the best out of Lee Cook ahead of him.

I thought Lomas was the major difference, he not only played well but he organised the team and the improvement in Langley alongside him was great to see. We were back to the old ways of closing the opposition down quickly all over the pitch, if only we'd done that at Blackburn last week.

Up front Furlong worked hard and Baidoo didn't look like scoring but worked hard all game and never gave them time on the ball.

The win puts us five points off the playoffs but more importantly thirteen clear of relegation which should give us enough of a breathing space to ensure we start next season in the Championship. Luton are up next and are not in the best of form at the moment so if we can build on the recent upturn in fortunes in the league we should be capable of getting something out of that game.

Man of the Match: Steve Lomas

Players Ratings: Royce 8, Bignot 8, Rose 8, Santos 8 (Taylor 7), Shittu 8, Lomas 9, Langley 8, Cook 8, Ainsworth 7 (Donnelly 7), Baidoo 7 (Moore 7), Furlong 8