A trip to Selhurst Park is never the highlight of the season for QPR fans with us failing to win away to Crystal Palace for eighteen years when Ray Wilkins made his debut in a 3-0 win. Since then it's usually been a miserable trip to South London but this year hope was a little higher than normal that we could give a better account of ourselves.

It was my eight year nephew Charlie's second away game and walking to the ground he said he thought this was going to be the best stadium he's ever been too which considering he's been to the new Wembley and Ibrox made me chuckle at how disappointed he was about to be.

After fighting our way through the walls of stewards shouting show us your keys as if we were walking into a wife swapping party, Charlie soon realised Selhurst Park was not quite as good as Wembley when we had to walk through several puddles of piss to get to the urinal and then back through more over the top stewarding to find our seats were situated behind a pillar blocking some of the pitch so he was forced to stand on his seat any time we attacked.

As the teams ran out it was difficult to hear the public address system and hear what the team was and who was on the bench so it took a minute or two to work out who was playing. De Canio had made two changes to the side that lost to Coventry both of them enforced. Martin Cranie's broken leg saw him return to Portsmouth so Sampsa Timoska started in central defence which raised a few eyebrows and a few moans among the travelling support but I thought it was the right decision as the Mancienne/Stewart partnership has been woeful this season. The other change saw Marc Nygaard miss out through injury and Adam Bolder returned to a five man midfield with Buzsacky pushed forward in a free role behind Rowan Vine.

Rangers started the game well looking bright on the ball and were keeping possession in midfield, which is never easy in the blood and thunder of a local derby. As expected Neil Warnock's side was very direct looking for long balls up to Morrison all the time but we found that pretty easy to deal with early on with Stewart and Timoska looking comfortable at the back.

The linesmen denied Sinclair when his pace saw him break through again and the linesmen was flagging so vigorously he broke his flag in half and the game needed to be stopped for a minute as the flag was replaced.

Going forward Rangers were looking very exciting with Sinclair and Rowlands swapping wings during the game and Sinclair showed his pace with a touch down the right and he accelerated with such speed it was frightening, his low cross was inches away from reaching Buzsacky who was sliding in at the far post.

Rowan Vine then tested the keeper after a nice ball from Buzsacky he got the ball onto his right foot and fired a shot towards the top corner but it was pushed wide of the post. Rangers were winning several corners and were playing all the football in Palace's half but couldn't find the breakthrough our play deserved.

The QPR fans were in fine voice with songs debuting for Rowan Vine, Buzsacky and Mikele Leigertwood and many old favourites were drowning out any attempts from the home fans to make any noise but they looked pretty depressed by the football on offer for them and many were leaving their seats for a half time pint a good fifteen minutes before the break.

Palace did have a few chances to grab the lead but they were few and far between. Ifill found space in the box and placed a header over the bar whilst Clinton Morrison shot over the bar as he looked for his 100th goal. Morrison then threw himself on the floor with an outrageous dive but somehow avoided a yellow card for his theatrics.

Rangers continued to be on top wit Bolder and Leigertwood running the midfield and with the pace of Sinclair out wide we were causing plenty of problems. We needed a goal though and we deservedly got it just before half time.

It came from a corner and for the first time all half my nephew decided to stay in his seat and read the programme after he had predicted a 0-0 draw. Rowlands ball into the box was half cleared as far as Buzsacky on the right who had time and space to pick out a perfect cross for Scott Sinclair to head past the keeper into the back of the net. At the time I thought it was an own goal but the television pictures showed it was a good header by Sinclair.

Rangers played out the remaining few minutes of the half without any real problems and the QPR fans were pretty buoyant at half time with hope that we were finally going to get a win at Selhurst Park.

There is no doubt though that Neil Warnock was going to throw a few cups around at half time as his side had been pretty dire in the first forty-five minutes and they responded with a much-improved start to the second half.

They pushed Rangers onto the back foot and forced a few corners. Clinton Morrison was under orders to stand right in front of Lee Camp and stop him coming for the ball but the referee failed to stop the foul on two occasions and the home almost drew level through this when Rowlands had to clear off the line from a Ifill header.

Morrison then had a goal ruled out for offside after a nice cross in from the right but the Irish international did look offside even from our restricted view in the corner. The pressure began to ease as Rangers got on the ball again in midfield and began passing the ball around. We then had a ten minute spell where played some sublime football and really should have wrapped the game up.

We played some lovely passing moves in midfield with every player involved and looking so comfortable on the ball. The movement was also a joy to watch as we ran Palace ragged.

It was during this spell that we really should have killed the game off as we created three great chances. First up a quick break away saw us outnumber the Palace defence with Sinclair, Vine and Rowlands busting a gut to get forward and create an acre of space for Buzsacky to pick out Bolder. The Rangers skipper ran into the box and moved the ball onto his right foot before shooting but the keeper made a good save with Vine and Sinclair furious with Bolder for not playing them in.

Sinclair again showed his pace bursting past the defence and into an one on one with the keeper, I thought he should have trusted his skill and pace to take it round the keeper but instead he opted to shoot and the keeper saved well but the ball looped high for Sinclair to have a volley with the keeper on the floor but he ballooned it high over the bar.

Rangers then went with the dreaded short corner routine and it almost worked not once but twice. Rowlands ball to Bolder saw him drop his shoulder and burst into the box before a low cross just evaded the outstretched leg of Vine. The same move ended the same way minutes later as the QPR fans were enjoying a dominant display from the new look team.

Rowan Vine was next to go close beating the offside trap but the keeper again denied him to leave him stuck on just one goal this season.

You could only see one winner and many Palace fans were leaving long before the final ten minutes let alone the final whistle. Neil Warnock then did what he does best and threw a laughable tantrum at a throw in given against his side. He is a master at getting in the heads of referees and he seemed to have done it again as after his tantrum Peter Walton gave the home side everything with some bizarre free kicks given for minimal contact. As a set piece looked like the only chance for Palace the more being given as the game came to an end was quite worrying.

De Canio made a late change with Ainsworth replacing Rowlands who was rather subtle in his time wasting technique of seeing his number up and running to the far end of the pitch before looking round surprised and walking off very slowly. The referee didn't like this though and a minute later gave Palace a very soft looking free kick for an offence than none of us could work out what it was for.

Mark Kennedy stood over the ball and knocked it into the box where Stewart and Timoska had been dominant all game but Morrison was too strong for Timoska holding him off and the Finnish defender slipped to the floor to allow Morrison the space to head past Camp into the back of the net and he was off celebrating his 100th goal and continue his run of always scoring against us. It was a cruel blow for us but we picked ourselves up and looked for the winner and almost got it with good attacks involving Vine and Ainsworth but on both occasions we didn't get the final ball right and the chances were gone.

De Canio made two more changes during injury time bringing on Sahar for Vine and in the fifth minute of four added on Zesh Rehmann came on for Bolder which brought a few groans from the Arthur Waite stand. During those nervous injury time minutes Palace had a great chance to win the game as they broke down the right and a cross in found Freedman totally unmarked at the far post, I was ready to put my head in my hands as he took a touch and lined up a shot but smacked it just wide of the post.

The final whistle was met with huge cheers from the Palace fans that had been silent until the 88th minute, it was if they had won the league rather than got a lucky point against a team in the bottom three, which says a lot about our performance.

The Rangers players looked very down at the end but got an excellent reception from the fans and deservedly so. This was a game we really should have won by three or four goals such was our dominance for most of the game.

It was disappointing to throw away two points so late in the game but looking at the bigger picture the improvement in this team since we lost to West Brom just over a month ago is unbelievable. Some of the football we played yesterday was fantastic and we dominated most of the game, even my eight year old nephew quickly came to the conclusion that Crystal Palace were rubbish.

The De Canio era has certainly started well and it's impossible not to be impressed with how he has got the team playing in such a short space of time. I know Mick Harford did a great job steadying the ship and getting some good results but it's the style of play in Hull game and again yesterday that will have many fans excited about the future.

Buzsacky was star man for me, he is so skilful on the ball and has that air of arrogance about him that made that number 10 shirt so special when I was growing up. It was hard to fault any of the players through, the five in midfield all worked hard and used the ball well, when we did give it away it was usually in an attempt to keep possession rather than just hoof it clear and we quickly fought hard to win it back. Sinclair was much better yesterday and is Wayne Fereday quick on the wing, the only complaint on him was his one on one miss which I thought he should have trusted his pace and skill and tried to take it round the keeper rather than shoot straight away. Still if he was the finished article he's be in Chelsea's first team.

At the back Timoska had a decent game as did Stewart. I thought Timoska could have done better with the goal he was a little to weak against Morrison but I didn't think it was a free kick either. The ref seemed to give Palace everything after Warnock threw an arm waving tantrum in the second half.

We have a two week break now and I think with more work on the training ground we'll improve some more and I can see us giving someone a right hiding soon when Blackstock comes back. We might have slipped back in the bottom three but as long as we keep playing like this we'll be climbing the table soon and the future looks very bright.

Man of the Match: Akos Buzsacky

QPR: Camp 7, Mancienne 7, Timoska 7, Stewart 7, Barker 7, Buzsacky 8, Rowlands 6 (Ainsworth 6), Leigterwood 7, Bolder 7 (Rehmann 6), Sinclair 7, Vine 7 (Sahar 6)