Since the third round of the FA Cup draw was made back in December the excitement has been building for Rangers first trip to Chelsea since 1996. On that day Simon Barker scored an equaliser for Rangers in a 1-1 draw whilst Paul Furlong missed an open goal late on for Chelsea.

Twelve years on and much has changed. Furlong became a QPR legend and the two teams are now on different planets with Chelsea one of the best sides in Europe and Rangers struggling at the foot of the Championship table.

The game though was billed as the battle of the Cash with Rangers now on paper at least the richest club in the world, which meant there was a lot of media interest in this game.

For many Rangers fans this will have been their first visit to Stamford Bridge as we filled out the Shed end with 6,300 fans and by the looks of it many more were scattered in the Chelsea ends.

After a few drinks in Putney before the game we made our way to Stamford Bridge and were met by a wall of police and stewards searching us as we went in. Once inside we made our way to our seats in the lower tier just a few rows from the front, the view was not the best but we were close enough to give Shaun Wright-Phillips plenty of stick in the first half.

The teams were announced just after some bloke in a suit mimed his way through Blue is the Colour with one of the most embarrassing pre match entertainment I've ever seen. Come on wave your flags was the cry as around 10 people in the crowd responded and the others sat in silence. Meanwhile in the away end the noise level was turned up with the QPR fans enjoying the chance to out sing Chelsea.

The team as expected meant that we had a few debuts after we signed seven players this week. Fitz Hall replaced Zesh Rehmann in defence whilst Martin Connolly made his debut at right back in place of Bob Malcolm. In midfield Adam Bolder missed out so Gavin Mahon made his first start and Hogan Ephraim started on the left wing. New signings Patrick Agyemang and Kieran Lee were among the subs on a very attack minded bench.

After the usual huddle by the players we were ready to kick off defending the end where most of the QPR fans were sat and the atmosphere in the Shed End was fantastic. Despite all the noise we were making I don't think many of us expected too much out of the game but seeing that Chelsea had rested Joe Cole and Ballack did give us hope.

The return of Didier Drogba on the bench for Chelsea was a boost to the home side though, not a bad player to have as a substitute. The biggest jeer when the teams were read out was to Scott Sinclair who didn't do too much to impress the QPR fans during his loan spell earlier in the season.

The game started as you'd expect with Chelsea on the front foot but the surprise was how one-dimensional they were. They seemed to just try and get the ball out to Wright-Phillips and then look to get on the end of his wayward crosses. It was clear that Chelsea saw Barker as the weak link in defence but with Hogan Ephraim backing up Barker the pair of them managed to stop the tricky winger and give away some early corners, which turned into catching practice for Lee Camp.

Wright-Phillips then got away from Barker and put a perfect cross low into the box but no Chelsea player gambled on it and the ball rolled past Camp and was cleared by Connolly. After ten minutes the game began to settle down and Rangers began to believe they had little to fear from this Chelsea side.

The home side had plenty of possession but were not really creating anything and on the break we looked like we might create something. Buzsacky created a half chance for Ainsworth but the Rangers winger was beaten to the ball by Sidwell as he prepared to get his shot away.

Most of the game was being played in the Rangers half though with Chelsea dominating possession but were up against a much improved defensive unit as we worked hard all over the pitch to deny them space around the box. Wright-Phillips continued to be the main threat and he was also getting the most stick from the Rangers fans.

The rather cruel Where's your real dad song was quickly followed by "You let your Country down". Wright-Phillips appeared to be laughing at this one but it had the desired effect as he miss kicked a corner straight to Barker and we were able to clear. Wright-Phillips continued to get into some good positions but his crossing was dire. One of his efforts was sliced high over the bar and prompted the QPR fans to sing " We won't be signing you" to the England international.

On the half hour mark the goal came for the home side and it was more than a little fortunate. The rather chubby looking Pizarro got the ball on the edge of the box and shot to Camps right, his effort hit the post only to come out and bounce back off Camps head into the back of the net. A lucky goal but one that failed to dent the enthusiasm from the away end where we continued to be the only ones making any noise.

The fear now was that Rangers might fall apart after going a goal behind but we continued to work hard and restrict Chelsea to long-range efforts. Shaun Wright-Phillips went close to a second goal after he picked up the ball on a counter attack and fired just wide of the post.

Ironically Chelsea only really looked like scoring when we were on the attack. They were so quick on the counter attack when we sent more men forward that De Canio seemed to be telling Hall and Stewart to stay back when we had free kicks.

Our one real chance of the half came to the in form Buzsacky. He got away from his man after a nice build up and shot wide of the post from 25 yards out.

Another counter attack saw Chelsea go close a second goal, a nice ball from Wright-Phillips found Sidwell and his shot beat Camp before hitting the post. A second goal would have been harsh on Rangers and at half time I think we were all pretty pleased with what we had seen so far.

De Canio opted to make a change though and it was Ainsworth who made way. Ainsworth had been very disappointing in the first half and looked like the occasion had got to him a little bit, we didn't see any of his usual hustle and bustle on the right wing which meant Ashley Cole had a pretty easy time of it. Patrick Agyemang came on as we switched to a 4-4-2 with Rowlands going to the right.

Rangers attacked towards the Shed end in the second half roared on by the 6,000 fans. A mate of mine said at half time he just wanted us to score and I completely agreed, I'd have taken any kind of defeat if we could have celebrated a goal. That hope of a goal though wasn't helped when just five minutes into the half Akos Buzsacky had to limp off injured. This meant a debut for Kieran Lee on the right wing with Rowlands back in side.

This coincided with our best spell of the game and we had two good chances to get back on level terms as Chelsea looked very lacklustre.

A free kick in our own half from barker was half cleared by Alex and it fell to Rowlands on the edge of the box, he ran onto it and smashed a great volley, which beat the keeper but went just over the bar. It was so close and gave us real belief we could get something from this game.

Agyemang then broke the offside trap for a glorious chance, he was through against the keeper as Alex came back with a last ditch tackle but his shot was well saved by Hillario and in truth that was our last real chance to equalise.

Chelsea looked a little shell-shocked and the fans were doing little to help the side sitting in near silence for most of the game, as we sang, "You can't buy an atmosphere" to the rather quiet fans to our left.

Avram Grant made the change that home fans wanted taking off Scott Sinclair (who had been as ineffective for Chelsea as he had been for us) and brought on Didier Drogba. Cue an opening of the floodgates was what many of us thought in the away end but Drogba had little impact on the game as Chelsea showed an amazing lack of ambition to go and get more goals. I honestly can't imagine any of the other sides in the top four being so happy to sit back and play out a 1-0 win against a side in the bottom six of the Championship.

A free kick from Alex, which was comfortably saved by Camp, was the only real chance for the home side who just seemed content to keep the ball and run down the clock. Rangers kept working and fighting for everything and De Canio made a bold attacking change taking off Ephraim and bringing on seventeen-year-old Angelo Balanta who must have been pinching himself to find himself playing at Stamford Bridge so early in his career.

Rangers continued to get into some good positions as the clock ran down but the final ball was lacking as twice Blackstock failed to pick out the excellent runs of Agyemang. We also had a decent penalty shout turned away after Alex appeared to pull down Blackstock in the box after a long throw from Hall.

Chelsea then brought on Ballack and Joe Cole but still didn't really create anything of note and as we came to the last ten minutes the dream of taking them back to Loftus Road was still alive as pushed men forward in the hope of getting an equaliser. The fans continued to make plenty of noise in the shed end but the equaliser just wouldn't come as free kicks pumped into the box were well dealt with by the experienced Chelsea defence.

Once again it was a quick counter attack that produced a chance for Chelsea as Joe Cole broke away and found Drogba who picked his spot but Camp was equal to it pushing it wide for a corner which Chelsea's first shot on target of the second half. Laughably Chelsea then looked to keep the ball in the corner rather than go for a second goal. To see Chelsea do this against us should give us plenty of heart that we are heading in the right direction. Joe Cole then should have been booked for kicking the ball away during injury time but instead just got a nice pat on the bum from the referee.

In the end the final whistle meant we'd gone out at the first hurdle yet again but we can take plenty from this game and the players deserved the standing ovation they got from the QPR fans.

No doubt that Chelsea deserved the win, they were the better side but at no stage did they run away with it as many expected them to and we were always in with a chance but just lacked that bit of quality in the final third to open them up. Lets face it though we're not the first and won't be the last side that have struggled to open up Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Overall it was an enjoyable day and I felt proud of the way the team had played in what looked on paper at least a banker home win. When you think a month ago we lost to at Blackpool with a pitiful performance, a month on we have improved so much. We were hard to break down and played some decent stuff as well. When the draw was made I'd have taken anything less than a 6 goal defeat, when the whistle went yesterday I was gutted we hadn't got a draw.

Chelsea were always in the driving seat and never really looked like losing the game but to be honest I thought West Brom caused us more problems than Chelsea did. I was really impressed with some of the new signings. Fitz Hall looked very good, Connolly also did very well at right back. Mahon was miles better than he was on Tuesday and gave good protection to the back four whilst Agyemang and Lee did ok when they came on. I thought Agyemang should have scored when he was put through in the second half.

All in all we can take so much from this game and push on in the league, I honestly believe we'll be back at Chelsea soon as a Premiership side.

Man of the match was Rowlands who was superb in midfield and was so unlucky with his shot. The only disappointments were Ainsworth who looked like the occasion got to him a bit and Blackstock who was anonymous in the second half.

Great atmosphere as well in the away end. I was right at the front, which is usually crap for atmosphere, but we didn't sit down all game and gave plenty of stick out to the Chelsea players. I loved the "We won't be signing you" to Shaun Wright Phillips as well as "You can't buy an atmosphere" song. Shame some idiots had to spoil it with the Drogba song but all in all a great day out and a good drink afterwards in Earls Court in a pub full of QPR fans.

To add to the good day Lee Cook was in the away end and told several fans that he will sign on a month's loan on Monday, which is fantastic news. Rowan Vine was also at the game and said he signed a three and a half year deal before the game and was gutted it hadn't gone through in time for him to play which is a shame as I thought we missed Vine yesterday.

So back to the league next week and a tough trip to Sheffield United but with more players coming in this week there is no reason why we can't go there and get a positive result and continue our rise up the table.

Man of the Match: Martin Rowlands

Players Ratings: Camp 7. Connolly 7, Barker 7, Hall 7, Stewart 7, Ainsworth 5 (Agyemang 7), Rowlands 8, Mahon 7, Ephraim 6 (Balanta 7), Buzsacky 7 (Lee 7), Blackstock 6