After Saturdays heroic win at Derby we made the short trip to Watford knowing a win would push us into a playoff position.

Last time we made the trip to Watford it was a rather embarrassing night as Watford hammered a dire Rangers side 3-0 and Ian Holloway almost lost his job. Fourteen months later it was hoped that we’d offer up a better showing this time around against a Watford side who have made an impressive start to the season.

Ian Holloway had the rare pleasure of only needing to make one change to the team and that’s what he did. Not many agreed with his change though as Stefan Moore replaced the suspended Paul Furlong leaving Rangers looking more than a little lightweight up front.

As the teams were read out our old friend Clarke “I’ll never celebrate a goal against QPR” Carlisle was given more than a few boos from the large away following.

Carlisle of course had walked out on QPR after the fans and club had done everything to help turn his life around after he spent his 4 grand a week wages on getting pissed and wasting his obvious football talent.

No one really moaned when he went to Leeds as it was well known he wanted to be close to his family but to turn up a year later at Watford either stinks of someone who lied to us in the first place and just went to Leeds for the money and the fact they are a bigger club or someone who is shit at geography.

The 4,500 QPR fans were in good voice as the game kicked off with Rangers attacking towards our end. It as a tight opening with neither side looking to give much away.

Watford were using their width well whilst Rangers were relying on Gallen to create anything and from out wide he was finding that task difficult. Rangers were doing their best to give the ball away as quickly as possible especially Ainsworth who I don’t think held onto the ball for more than 10 seconds in the entire half.

The home side looked more of a threat going forward with the pace of King and Ashley young but apart from a few promising build ups Royce wasn’t really tested to often in the early stages.

That all changed when Watford really started to pile on the pressure and won a number of corners. They were playing it smart, when they got the ball on one wing on the other side a player would go right to the touchline and make a late run into the box which was putting huge pressure on the defence and we were struggling to deal with it.

The first sight of goal came from a corner which Rangers half cleared but only as far as McNamee who placed a delightful chip towards the top corner, it looked like a goal but Royce did brilliantly to tip it over the bar.

The pressure was increasing and a brilliant run by Ashley Young saw him beat four QPR defenders but his shot was well over the bar. His pace along with Marlon King was causing all sorts of problems and Evatt in particular was badly struggling to cope.

At the other end Rangers had two half chances. Good work by Stefan Moore saw him outpace his defender but then got stuck in two minds and ended up winning a corner from a position where he could have tested the keeper. Kevin Gallen then fired wide from the edge of the box with our only real effort on goal of the half.

Marlon Ming again tested Royce with a good turn and shot which was well saved by the man in form Simon Royce. The shot seemed to be heading in by Royce did so well to react and turn the ball over the bar.

With half time approaching Rangers needed to get into the break on level terms and try to sort out the midfield who were being outplayed but Watford grabbed a deserved lead five minutes before the break.

Again the tactic to have a wide player arrive at the far post late paid off as King beat Dyer to the ball and headed back for Matthew Spring who was quick to react and fired past Royce. It was poor defending by Rangers who had taken far too long to react to Watford’s simple but effective tactic.

A few minutes later the same move almost caught us out again as Bignot relaxed looking to see out a cross but Young came in from nowhere to panic Bignot and we gave away a corner.

James Chambers ran through our defence as if they weren’t there and once again it took Simon Royce to come out and keep the score down with a smart save.

At the other end we had one last sight of goal after a good breakaway. Santos found Stefan Moore who simply never looked confident enough to cause any damage and was soon pushed off the ball.

At half time we were pretty relieved to go in only a goal down. During the break a quite entertaining argument kicked off in the toilet between two older fans. One fan thought we had been excellent and were very unlucky to be a goal down and the other thought we were rubbish and should be 5-0 behind. From my point of view I thought we had done OK for twenty minutes but the power and pace of Watford attack was really impressive and they were a little unlucky to only be a goal in front at the break.

As the teams come out for the second half it was no surprise to see two changes. Lee Cook was on to a chorus of boos replacing Georges Santos and Marc Nygaard made a welcome return in place of Gareth Ainsworth.

The switch saw Stefan Moore move to the right wing and Kevin Gallen alongside Doherty in midfield. In Holloway’s own words he wanted a more footballing side for the second half and for the first twenty minutes of the half that’s exactly what he got.

Rangers began to knock the ball around after a nervy start to the half with Cook looking desperate to impress against his old club. Our first “effort” on goal came from Marc Nygaard and was one of the most bizarre moments of the season. He got the ball in his own half, looked up and had a shot, well you could call it a shot but it hardly troubled anyone as it went out for a throw in with the entire stadium doubled up laughing.

He almost made amends soon afterwards with a good turn of pace which got him away from Clarke Carlisle but he went for a pass this time rather than a shot and the move broke down with a poor cross by Bignot.

This was much better though and we were looking a decent side. Watford continued to pose a threat on the break and Marlon King should have wrapped the game up with a point blank header but he didn’t connect properly and Royce had an easy save to make.

Gallen was getting more in the game now as was Lee Cook who lofted in several teasing crosses for Nygaard which the big man couldn’t quite convert into a goal.

We almost got level with our best chance of the game which had most of us up celebrating a goal. Rangers cut through the Watford defence with a cracking through ball which Sturridge ran onto. Sturridge bore down on goal and looked set to open his account for Rangers, he did everything right as he lifted the ball over the keeper but Foster made an excellent save getting two hands on it. The ball still looked to be going in and from our end it looked like it had gone in but instead it had gone over the bar.

The replay on the biog screen showed just how close it was and the home fans were having a good laugh at our premature celebrations.

From the corner we again went close when Nygaard headed over and surely an equaliser was on the way. But before we knew it the game was all over. A throw in on the right aw some scandalous defending by Rangers.

No pressure on the taker meant he could have a free throw at King on the edge of the six yard box. King brought it down with Evatt standing off watching him and he was able to roll it across to the unmarked McNamee to get the second goal. Awful marking by Bignot and Moore but none of the back four or midfield came out of the goal with any credit.

It was all over now and Holloway made a third and final change bringing on Richard Langley for Stefan Moore. Langley’s first involvement was to give away a silly free kick for a needless foul by the touchline.

The free kick was taken a few five yards further forward and Ashley Young stepped up to curl a brilliant delivery which beat everyone and found it’s way to the bottom corner. King celebrated in front of the QPR fans but worse was to follow for us.

Remember all those comments by Clarke Carlisle last year where he said he will never celebrate a goal against QPR because he respects the club too much after all we did for him? Well he showed us great respect by doing the soccer am “Easy” clapping piss take.

You could understand it if his tame mates had started it off and he joined in but he was going solo with his piss take showing just what an arsehole he is. After several years of Clarke at QPR where he was either too pissed to train or couldn’t be arsed this was another slap in the face to us, perhaps we should have left him in the gutter.

Anyway Watford were now well on top and sadly the fight was gone from Rangers. It was now a case of how many would Watford get as we sat off and just gave up. Well most of the team did, to Marc Nygaard’s credit he kept going till the end and almost got one back with a volley.

With most of the QPR fans leaving early it was quite amusing to see Gallen just kick the ball out of play and walk off, perhaps he’d seen enough but it turned out he’s re aggravated his groin injury and we’re badly going to miss him on Saturday.

In the first of two minutes injury time we did manage to get one goal back. A Lee Cook corner was met by Dan Shittu to head his third goal of the season. The final whistle was the cue for the players to walk off the pitch as quickly as possible without acknowledging the QPR fans who stayed till the end, cheer lads!

So another hammering at Watford but I didn’t think this was a bad as last year. It’s thin line between a win and a loss. On Saturday if Idiakez had scored the penalty or that chance at the end they probably would have beaten us. Last night if Sturridge scores that chance or Nygaard converts one of those crosses we’d have probably got a draw and felt happy this morning but instead we’ve been hammered again and in the end it was a fair result.

I didn’t think we played particularly well last night but the second goal killed us off and credit to Watford who look a good side and have an excellent manager by the look of it. I liked their tactic of playing the wide players very wide and having them ghost in at the far post which created one goal for them and should have got them a few more. Perhaps that’s something we could try with Ainsworth.

Apart from that 20 minute spell after half time it was very much like last season. I thought Royce was excellent again but the only real outfield pluses for me were Nygaard and Gallen but even Gallen was nowhere near he best.

Sadly Stefan Moore has not mastered how to control a ball that is aimed at his neck so he’s being made to look shitter than I think he is. I thought Evatt was very poor last night and reacted far too slowly for the second goal which was a shambles. Shittu also had a poor game and why on earth was Cook trying to take people on in his own penalty area?

I’m sure Holloway will get the blame but I thought his players let him down last night after he showed faith in most of the players who did the job for him on Saturday.

So Reading next for QPR which looked a very tough game which we’ll do well to get anything out of especially if Gallen is missing.

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