My first away game of 2007 saw Rangers make the familiar short trip to Ipswich for a game we really needed to win. The pre match atmosphere was quite positive in the Station Hotel bar before the game with most people quite hopeful of all three points but that could have just been the beer talking. We've done well at Portman Road in recent years though and this was a game we were quite capable of taking all three points from.

After making our way to the back of the upper tier to our seats the atmosphere was excellent among the QPR fans who were making plenty of noise. Rangers won the toss and switched ends to attack towards the Rangers end in the first half. Seeing the team line up it was a little disappointing to see only one recognised striker once again. Gregory's insistence that Cook or Rowlands can play the Bergkamp role behind the main striker is lovely in practice but as neither player is as good as Bergkamp and the other striker is nowhere near as good as Thierry Henry, the theory kind of falls on it's arse.

This week it was Ray Jones in for Blackstock and Rowlands playing as his strike partner. Lee Cook was back on the left wing with the rest of the side unchanged from last weeks draw against Plymouth. On the bench there was a return for Stefan Moore who hasn't been seen in a QPR shirt since the defeat at home to Stoke last March.

Rangers started the game really well on the front foot and dominated the opening ten minutes. Cook's free kick on the right was curling to the top corner s the keeper managed to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. Cooks corner was half cleared as far as Ainsworth's who shot was goal bound but blocked quite clearly by a hand from an Ipswich defender but the referee ignore the pleas for a penalty.

It was all Rangers though and a brilliant start from Gregory's team. The very dodgy looking keeper flapped at another corner before Jones met a third corner from Cook but his header was wide of the post.

Ray Jones was winning everything in the air flicking balls on for his striker partner but Rowlands was unable to get close enough to his partner and take advantage. This wasn't Rowlands fault who was working hard and doing well in his new role but he doesn't have a strikers instincts and was playing more as a fifth midfield player than a forward.

Rowlands did go close to opening the scoring when he got onto an Ainsworth pass to shoot just wide of the post.

The home side began to come back into the game as Lee Camp was forced to make an excellent save from a Walters header. It was a warning for Rangers and a few minutes later we were a goal behind from a similar passage of play.

The marking at the back was non-existent as Roberts crossed for Alan Lee to head past Camp into the bottom corner. It was the first goal Ipswich had scored for 6 games, the only shock was it took them twenty-five minutes to break that duck against us.

Still Rangers were not out of the game and were playing reasonably well. Rowlands was denied by a good save from price after good work from Cook on the left. Cook was getting space on the left but time and again he failed to find a QPR player with a cross which was mainly due to the fact that Ray Jones was the only player in the box against four defenders as no one was breaking from midfield to join the attacks. Bolder and Lomas were working hard but they weren't really getting forward to help the front two and as the half wore on we didn't really look like scoring.

The referee was adding to the frustration with a bizarre moment refusing to let Rowlands take a corner. Rowlands tried to take it but the ref came over and seemed to suggest the ball was not in the right place but failed to move it, they appeared to agree that all was ok and as Rowlands went to take it he blew his whistle again and with the ball clearly in the arc he just kept blowing and pointing. When Rowlands eventually took the corner it went straight out for a goal kick.

At half time there was an air of frustration among the QPR fans with almost every fan amazed that we were not playing with two out and out strikers and if we were going to get anything out of the game we needed to get Furlong or even Moore on for the second half. There were no changes at half time though as we persisted with this striker force of one out and out striker and one dropping off to play in the hole. How ironic really that we choose to play this system after sending the only player we have who can play that role to Plymouth on loan.

The second half saw little in the way of a fight back as Lee Camp kept us in the game with several saves. Camp was in fine form to deny Alan Lee on two occasions with spectacular saves and he was the only one keeping the score down to 1-0. It wasn't long before the lead was 2-0 though through more dire defending from Timoska and Cullip allowed Waters to get in between then and poke the ball past Camp and kill the game off.

The anger was obvious in the away end as for the first time I have seen the anger was aimed towards the chairmen with most of the away end signing Paladini is a wanker. The chant of the game soon followed though as every QPR fan stood up and sang "We can't win, with one up front" The message was obvious and it took the fans to point this out to Gregory. Low and behold the change finally happened as Ainsworth came off and Furlong came on to see us go with two strikers. When we did this last wee we battered Plymouth for the last ten minutes and should have won the game, sadly it was too late to win this one but with Rowlands out wide and Furlong up front we were far better in the final half an hour and were soon back in the game.

The goal came with twenty minutes to go and the assist went to the fans as it was Rowlands on the right and Furlong up front who combined to get us back in the game. Rowlands broke down the right and smashed in a low shot, which hit the post, and the rebound fell to Furlong to convert his first goal of the season from close range. Furlong appeared to go over to Gregory and point to his name on the back of his shirt which would perhaps indicate the veteran striker is not too happy at being replaced up front by midfield players, can't say I blame him really.

Furlong was full of life now and went close to an equaliser when he shot wide from just inside the box. Rowlands also had a shot drift wide as Rangers looked for an equaliser but the lack of bodies getting forward to support the front two was getting increasingly frustrating.

At the other end Ipswich had chances to kill the game off with Garvan hitting a cracking shot which Camp did well to keep out and Camp was also on hand to palm a Francis Jeffers effort wide of the post to keep us in the game.

Jimmy Smith came on with a few minutes left to try and inject some life into the midfield but in truth he was pretty anonymous for the time he was on. Four minuets of injury time brought a frantic finish from Rangers. A ball into the box Found Furlong who brought the ball down and appeared to be pulled back by the defender, incredibly a free kick was given to Ipswich when it looked a good shout for a penalty.

One last chance came in the 93rd minute when a ball into the box found Furlong he smashed it on the volley first time and it was over the bar, it was one of those that would either burst the net or hit row z, unfortunately the man in Row Z got a touch of the ball and the game was over.

The players received a decent ovation at the end from the excellent away support. It was a very frustrating day though and the blame has to go to the manager. It's all very well blaming the referee and players as he did after the game but it's down to him to send out the best team and at the moment he is not doing that. The referee was not great but didn't cost us the game by any means.

Michael Mancienne has been outstanding at centre half this season so to see him at right back whilst Damion Stewart sits in the middle is baffling to say the least. Also Rowlands playing up front rather than in midfield is quite ridiculous. Rowlands is not a striker and although he did his best it was a bloody stupid decision to play him up front ahead of Furlong, Baidoo, Nygaard and even Stefan Moore. Last week we had Cook up front this week it is Rowlands, its madness perhaps we might try Royce up front next week.

Ray Jones won almost everything in the air flicking balls on for the other forward but Rowlands didn't read any of them and never once ran onto them and it was all too easy. That's not Rowlands fault as he's a striker and as soon as he went back onto the right we scored. I lost count of the number of times Cook got one on one with his full back looked up and saw 5 Ipswich players in the box and only Ray Jones to aim for, no wonder he hit the first man every time.

Other results went for us but we still sit in the bottom three and the games are running out. We now have eleven games to go and seven of those games are against teams in the top ten including Sunderland and Wolves away who are in fine form at the moment. It's Sheffield Wednesday at home next for Rangers and it's a game we have to win otherwise I think we're heading back to league one.

Man of the Match: Lee Camp
Players Ratings: Camp 7, Mancienne 6, Timoska 5, Cullip 6, Stewart 6, Ainsworth 5 (Furlong 7), Bolder 6, Lomas 5 (Smith 6) , Rowlands 7, Jones 7