Promotion favourites Birmingham City brought their multi million pound squad to West London on Tuesday as Rangers looked to build on a decent point at Plymouth at the weekend.

Gary Waddock was able to name an unchanged starting eleven but did make changes to the bench where surprisingly the experience of Gallen and Lomas was sat in the stands as Stefan Bailey and Shabazz Baidoo were among the subs. For a game against a side as strong as Birmingham it was a baffling decision to leave a player of Gallen's experience out of the 16.

The visitors had former QPR trainee and QPR fan DJ Campbell in the starting eleven and the boy from East Acton looked desperate to impress from the start with his pace and movement which caused the Rangers back four problems from the first minute.

Rangers had the crowd behind them and made a decent start playing some neat passing football in midfield and looking to cause problems for Birmingham. As ever Lee Cook was a threat and Rangers best chance of a goal on the left. His tricky runs caused a few problems and he was at the heart of a good early move.

Milanese found Cook who played a one-two with Nygaard before Cook cut inside and played a lovely through ball to Oliseh but it was cut out for a corner. The crowd were appreciating the effort though and in central midfield the efforts of Bircham was really catching the eye.

Bircham was winning tackles and also playing the role of playmaker, which is rather alien for him, but he did it brilliantly. He kept his passes simple and rarely gave the ball away, his positional play was excellent and he gave the team a leader in midfield something we've lacked for a while now.

For all the positives going forward we still looked a shambles at the back. Ranger's zonal marking technique gifted Birmingham chances to take the lead. A Gary McSheffrey corner was whipped into the box and N'gotty was unmarked but headed wide. It was a warning to Rangers and one we took very little notice of.

DJ Campbell won several free kicks for his side as his quick feet were too good for Rehmann and Stewart whose only option was to kick him and plead innocence.

Birmingham eventually took a chance and went 1-0 up. It came from another set piece, which saw some shocking defending from Rangers. McSheffrey floated the free kick into the far post where Stewart, Rehmann and Nygaard all did their job of marking space, Paul Jones stood stuck on his line and Bruno N'Gotty couldn't believe his luck to head the ball into the back of the net.

It was as if the Rangers players were playing musical statues and couldn't move until the ball hit the net. It's easy to point the finger at Stewart for his poor marking but time and time again Rangers are caught out on set pieces due to us having no one in charge at the back to pull people into position and bark out the orders. It's saying something that we miss someone like Santos at the back who at least would make a decision and try and win the ball, ok sometimes it would end in a calamity with old Georges but it was better than just standing frozen to the spot.

At the other end Rangers looked a little more promising although with Nygaard up front we might as well have started with ten men. A free kick on the left almost brought a goal. Bircham curled the ball into the box and it was half cleared to Cook who smashed in a volley, which was well saved by Taylor. The Birmingham keeper almost made a right balls up with a quick kick as Blackstock blocked it and the ball fell to Bircham who played a lovely ball to Nygaard and the big striker was pulled down for what looks like a penalty but the lino had flagged for offside before the foul took place.

The game was very open and both sides had chances to score before half time although Birmingham always looked the more likely. DJ Campbell had the ball in the back of the net after he closed down Stewart and sped clear before placing a shot into the bottom corner but it was ruled out for offside. Some QPR fans began to give the striker plenty of stick but to be honest he's the king of striker we could really do with.

Gary McSheffrey was next to go close as he eased past four challenges and shot from 30 yards but Jones got down to save well.

Rangers were in the game though and from set pieces we caused problems. The closest we came was from one on the edge of the box, Marc Bircham stood over it and measured where he wanted to put the ball. He smashed in a low and hard cross, which just needed a touch for a goal but Taylor did well to claim the ball under pressure from Nygaard and Stewart.

Rangers were playing some decent passing football and another good move came as Ward found Cook and his cross was half cleared to Bircham who played a nice volleyed pass to Oliseh who controlled the ball and left his man for dead with a nice bit of skill but his cross was well claimed by Maik Taylor as Nygaard ran in just behind the keeper.

With just a minute to go before half time Birmingham stepped up a gear and almost killed the game off. Bendtner and DJ Campbell combined to give Neil Danns a chance but his shot was deflected wide. From the corner Rangers allowed Dunn space to smash in a volley which looked like it was flying in but was deflected wide of the post and the half time whistle was met with relief.

It hadn't been a bad performance from Rangers but once again our defending was letting us down. During the break Dexter Blackstock was replaced by Ray Jones with Blackstock suffering with an injury.

The second half flowed a similar pattern. Rangers looked to get the ball down and play and had plenty of possession but defensive errors led to the visitors having plenty of chances to kill the game off.

Matthew Rose, wearing the captains armband, fell on his arse near the halfway line to allow DJ Campbell to run at the Rangers defence with pace which has us all over the place, he was brought down by Rehman but the ref played on to allow Dunn to smash a shot in from 30 yards which Jones pushed wide.

The crowd were right behind Rangers and chances began to come for us. Nick Ward was getting more involved in the game and he collected a neat pass from Ray Jones to curl a lovely cross in for Nygaard but the big striker was far too slow to react and Birmingham were able to clear the danger.

Cook had now swapped wings with Oliseh and was continuing to cause problems. He found Ward with a pass on the right but the Australian took a little too long to get the ball out of his feet for a shot and he was blacked but the ball fell to Oliseh who showed great confidence to pick his spot and curl the ball to the top corner. Along the way it was deflected and left the keeper stranded and for a second it looked like it was going in but eventually it dropped just wide of the far post.

Rangers kept the pressure up and won a corner but the chance was waste as Cook went for a short one and Birmingham read and it broke quickly. Dunn played a lovely ball to DJ Campbell who was in the box but Milanese did just enough to put him off and Jones saved.

Campbell then had the chance to kill the game off after a good break down the right which saw a cross come in and Campbell got there first and his top poked shot hit the inside of the post and rolled along the line to safety.

We were riding our luck at the back but to the players credit they kept going and never gave up. We were given some light at the end of the tunnel when Bendtner was sent off for a second booking. His first was for a dive and his second came after he appeared to elbow Matthew Rose off the ball.

This gave us the chance to push men forward and go for it. Shabazz Baidoo came on for the woeful Rehmann but we still had no real width to the side and Birmingham were able to cope with most of what we could throw at them.

Our best chance came in the last ten minutes. Bircham did well to find Ward and his quick cross was perfect for Ray Jones as he rose high to head the ball just over the bar with the keeper beaten. It was so close and that chance seemed to inspire the team to a big finish.

Baidoo was full of life on the right and he cut inside with a nice step over to get away from his man and put in a perfect low cross but Nygaard again was to slow to react and the chance is gone

That was just about it as we huffed and puffed but Birmingham were strong at the back and killed it off with a second goal in injury time. Maik Taylor pumped a long ball up field and Rose allowed the ball to bounce and from then on was always second favourite as Jerome held him off and produced a brilliant lob over Paul Jones into the back of the net.

The stadium quickly emptied and at the final whistle there can only have been about 3,000 QPR fans left to clap the team off.

Rangers have now won just four games under Gary Waddock. Two of those wins have come against teams currently struggling in the division below and only one has come against a side currently in the same division as us. It has to be said that is a pathetic record and one thats has to improve quickly before he has to get his gardening tools out.

I thought we played quite well overall. We played some nice football on the floor but the final ball was usually poor. Marc Bircham was outstanding in midfield with his best performance at Loftus Road for a long time. It's incredible to think the club were desperately trying to force him to join MK Dons two weeks ago.

Lee Cook also had a good game whilst Shabazz Baidoo and Egthu Oliseh again showed some exciting touches which gives hope that they'll go on to be good players for us.

On the downside the back four and goalkeeper were again hopeless. Paul Jones again failed to command his area. Rose continued his dire form at right back, the bloke was awful in this position nine years ago when he first played there and he's still crap there now. One of Rose's great strengths is cutting inside on his right foot which he does to great effect at left back and also when he plays in central midfield. Sadly at right back he can't do that and is often caught in possession. We had all summer to find a right back but are now playing Rose in that position. We either need to switch to three at the back or bring back Bignot.

Milanese was better than he was against Ipswich but is still far too slow to perform consistently for us. In the middle we have real problems with neither Rehmann or Stewart able to take command and both of them fail to deal with pace and are equally poor at defending in the air.

At the moment the back four look like conceding in every game and we were a little lucky that poor finishing from Birmingham kept the score down as we gifted them several chances. I'd expect Alan McDonald with all his coaching badges to at least get the back four organised especially at set pieces and that needs to be done sooner rather than later.

One QPR fan on the QPR mailing list summed up Nygaard's performance by saying it was the laziest he's seen from a forward since Chris Kiwomya at Wimbledon five years ago. I wouldn't disagree with that.

So still plenty to work on, we lack width and the back four are hopeless but it was miles better than the Ipswich game. Any side that can keep a £3million striker on the bench are going to be tough to beat. The next two games are far more important, we need to beat the teams likely to struggle so they are six pointers for us especially with Southampton away coming up which could be a hiding.

I'm still baffled by Gallen's absence. I think Waddock just wants to make a point with Gallen as he has with Bircham and Bignot. All three were favourites under the pervious manager and Waddock wants his own men in which is fair enough I suppose but in my opinion a mistake. Bircham has taken his chance with both hands and was superb last night, hopefully Gallen will get a chance up front soon and take it.

Colchester next for Rangers as we face Cureton and McLeod again and I'm sure memories of our time in Division two/league one will come back especially for the fans on that crappy terrace. If Rangers lose again those league one days might become the present again rather than a distant memory.

Man of the Match: Marc Bircham

Players Ratings: Jones 5, Rose 5, Milanese 6, Rehmann 5 (Baidoo 7), Stewart 6, Oliseh 7, Ward 6, Bircham 9, Cook 7, Nygaard 4, Blackstock 6 (Jones 6)