The build up to this game was over shadowed by the sad news that Rowan Vine broke his leg in training on Thursday, an injury that not only rules him out for the rest of this season but is likely to rule him out until November.

The injury gave De Canio a headache of a team selection to make and with Buzsacky also missing through injury the Rangers manager opted for Mikele Leigterwood to take the role of right winger with Rowlands returning to central midfield. It seemed a strange move by the manager and as the game developed it didn’t work out as well as he’d have hoped.

The game kicked off in bright sunshine but the temperature soon changed to make it a cold and at times depressing afternoon.

Rangers attacked towards the school end which due to a family day promotion had the lower tier half full of QPR fans which was good to see.

The game started quite slowly with Preston showing why they have been on such a good run. They were well organised at the back and looked a decent outfit coming forward. Neil Mellor had an early chance as the ball bobbled through to him but Camp was quickly off his line to save at the striker’s feet.

On the left wing Simon Whalley looked pretty impressive on the ball and he went close with an effort from outside the box which was again well saved by Camp. We were looking a little shaky at the back with Stewart struggling to stay on his feet whilst Connolly didn’t look quite as comfortable as he did last week at left back.

In Lee Camp though we had a goalkeeper in decent form and he came off his line to claim the ball from some early corners and looked assured in between the posts for Rangers.

Going forward though we had very little threat and were a little too predictable to play against. We had no real width on the right and were trying to play through the middle or down the left, Leigterwood was coming inside and when he got on the ball he looked to the right for an option but rarely found one. We were restricted to long range efforts and apart from the excellent Rowlands it was hard to draw many positives from the performance.

Our first real effort on goal was quickly followed by a goal for Preston. Blackstock won the ball and ran at the Preston defence and fired a shot goal wards which was well saved by the keeper. Preston then broke and a slip by Stewart gifted Preston a corner where they had looked dangerous from.

McKenna took the set piece and the ball was flicked onto the unmarked Mellor who volleyed past Camp at the far post. It was a poor goal to concede and I’m sure De Canio will have been asking questions of the marking.

The goal didn’t bring much of a reaction from Rangers and it was Preston who looked more like grabbing a second goal as Mellor got away from Hall but his effort was off target.

Rangers had one late chance before half time as Mancienne ran with the ball from right back and smashed a long range shot just wide of the post. At half time though the visitors deserved the lead and we were going to have to show plenty of improvement to get back in the game.

To his credit though De Canio changed things at half time as we switched to a 4-3-3. Leigterwood moved into the middle with Blackstock and Ephraim offering more width to the team. The tactical switch appeared to work as Rangers looked more of a threat and with Rowlands pulling the strings in midfield we began to enjoy more possession.

Chances were not easy to come by though and Rowlands fired wide with our first effort of the half from just outside the box. We were missing the invention of Vine and Buzsacky but had to find another way to open up the opposition in what was becoming a big test for Rangers. De Canio took off the disappointing Ephraim and brought Balanta into the attack.

We continued to push forward but gaps began to appear at the back and Preston grabbed what should have been a killer second goal. Sedgwick cut inside and with a drop of the shoulder put Mahon on his arse and the ball was played in the middle for Priskin to tap home from close range. It was another poor goal to concede and looked to be game over for us.

Gavin Mahon’s role in the goal shouldn’t be ignored and he was pretty poor all game, he was soon replaced to give Gareth Ainsworth a rare run out at Loftus Road. Ainsworth looks to have more of a future as a coach at QPR rather than a player but he looked determined to try and show his football career is not over yet.

He got into the game quickly running at the opposition but too often he played with his head down and ran into trouble. When he did get into a position to cross he looked rusty slicing two efforts out for a goal kick.

Rangers were reduced to mostly long range efforts as Preston looked to run the clock down despite there being twenty minutes left.

Blackstock had a good chance to make a game of it after a neat pass from Rowlands put him in and Blackstock toe poked the ball past the keeper but inches wide of the post.

It wasn’t all one way traffic and Preston should have made it 3-0 when priskin rose at a corner and his header was brilliantly pushed away by Camp. A top class save and one that would prove to be vital later in the game.

Rangers were looking out of ideas and many fans were heading to the exit long before the end. Those of us left tried to create an atmosphere with the new De Canio song catching on and as the clock struck ninety minutes we were provided with a lifeline.

A ball into the middle by Mancienne found Ainsworth flicked out a boot and placed a brilliant volley over the keeper into the back of the net. It was now game on and we had four minutes of injury time to hit back. The crowd was up and we quickly forced a corner. Lee Camp came up for it but Rowlands delivery was poor and it took an excellent tackle from Hall to prevent Priskin scoring a simple tap in with Camp racing back.

Rangers looked desperate and pushed everyone forward but it looked too late until the 94th minute. Ainsworth got the ball on the right and for the first time he looked up after cutting inside and placed a perfect cross for Blackstock to rise and head into the bottom corner and Loftus Road erupted. It was amazing scenes as if we had won the league rather than stolen a point.

There was still time for Preston to win a free kick on the edge of the box but the danger was cleared and the final whistle was greeted with huge cheers. The players got a standing ovation when in truth they would have probably been booed off if the game finished on ninety minutes.

This was a game where many lessons will have been learned by the players and manager. We can now believe that we can score goals without Vine and Buzsacky in the side. The never say die attitude again shown through and to get a point from a game we should have been comfortably beaten in was very satisfying.

There were plenty of poor performances though that shouldn’t be over looked. Damien Stewart was awful in defence whilst Mahon continues to look very disappointing. I also though Ephraim was poor and offered very little in way of attacking threat.

It wasn’t all bad though, Blackstock worked hard and took his goal very well. It’s worth noting that since Cook left he has rarely had the ball delivered into him from out wide that often but in this game when Ainsworth delivered a good ball he showed what a good finisher he can be. Ainsworth had looked past it for most of his time on the pitch but he is a remarkable individual and really got us back in the game with his contribution during injury time.

Mancienne was much improved at right back but for me the man of the match was Rowlands who was one of our only attacking players to perform well.

That point keeps us clear of the bottom three and although we are not mathematically certain of safety yet we should be able to go to Hull next week with the freedom to have a go and try and attack the promotion chasers which should be a decent game.

The plaudits for this game though to the desire and effort of the players to never give up, it was a remarkable comeback that I don’t think anyone in the stadium saw coming and extends Rangers unbeaten home run to five games.

Man of the Match: Martin Rowlands

Players Ratings: Camp 7, Mancienne 7, Connolly 6, Stewart 5, Hall 5, Ephraim 5 (Ainsworth 6), Mahon 5 (Balanta 6), Leigterwood 6, Rowlands 8, Agyemang 6, Blackstock 7