An emotional day at Loftus Road as our third league game of the season was over shadowed by the death of 18-year-old striker Ray Jones. Fans went along to the game to pay their respects to the youngster and in truth the football didn't seem too important.

I went down to the stadium early and laid some flowers for Ray Jones and my nephew drew a picture of Ray scoring a goal, which we put down. Have to say full credit to the staff at QPR who have done an excellent job with the way it is all presented, shirts have been hung over the doors with posters and messages stuck up for everyone to read.

It was nice to see scarfs and banners from other clubs such as Millwall, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham. It all felt very surreal seeing all of this outside a football stadium for someone that young and as we got to our seats it seemed most fans had been affected by this news.

Billy Rice was on the pitch with a microphone and ten minutes before kick off he spoke about Ray Jones and said that the staff at Loftus Road wanted to come out to pay their respects as the song Missing You by Puff Daddy was played.

The QPR and Southampton fans got to their feet and gave a spontaneous standing ovation and some fans were having to fight back the tears. The teams then walked out onto the pitch and rather than pig bag blasted out instead the music was off and the fans sang There's only one Ray Jones which was a spine tingling moment with a near full house all arriving to the game early to pay respect.

The players were all wearing T shirts which had a Picture of ray Jones and had the message "A moment in our lives, a lifetime in our hearts" The players gave the t shirts to fans before getting into a huddle in preparation for what was obviously a different afternoon for all concerned.

Ray's family came out onto the pitch for the minutes applause and flowers were placed in the centre circle by Jude the cat on behalf of the Junior R's and Gianni Paladini from the club, a fan also put some down on behalf of the supporters club but didn't catch the blokes name.

The players stood around the centre circle and a minutes applause to celebrate Ray Jones life saw every fan in the stadium join in as the song There's only one Ray Jones was sung by both sets of supporters. It was a highly emotional time and I don't think I've ever witnessed anything like this before and I hope we don't have to do this again.

After that I found it incredibly difficult to get involved in the game and I think it was clear a few of the players found it difficult at well. That's no excuse for the performance that followed but it really must have been difficult for the players to perform after the emotions of the last week and what happened before the game for the players to go out and perform at their best.

Southampton kicked off against a QPR side who made a few changes to the side that lost to Cardiff. Chris Barker, Ben Sahar and Mikele Leigertwood all made their debuts whilst Danny Nardiello dropped to the bench.

The game started slowly as expected with both sides looking like they had been affected by the scenes before the game. Rangers had a few early charges forward but didn't really create anything with the same problems again rearing their ugly head of no width of creativity in midfield.

As the game settled down Southampton began to knock the ball around with confidence whilst the movement of Wright-Phillips and Rasiak up front was far too good for our defence. Dyer out wide was tearing Barker apart and it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead. It came from a corner on the left which found Rasiak unmarked at the far post with a simple header past Camp.

Fans blamed new signing Leigertwood for not getting close to his man but the truth was it was that bloody zonal marking system which was to blame again as defenders marked space rather than players and the end result is usually a goal if the delivery is good.

Rangers looked very subdued and were being played off the park by Southampton, it was like an exhibition game at times as we made them look like world-beaters. They passed the ball around us with ease and with good movement we had no answer to them.

Lee Camp kept us in the game after a dreadful back pass by Stewart put Rasiak clean through and Camp had to come out and made a good save at the strikers feet. Southampton were creating chance after chance and the fans began to turn on the players with plenty of abuse being handed out to Barker, Leigertwood and Stewart. It was a woeful performance but after seeing their team mate die a week ago it was no real shock that the players didn't look at there best.

Martin Rowlands tried to get us back in the game with a pathetic dive in the penalty box and he was lucky to avoid a booking.

Southampton killed the game off right on halftime with an excellent counter attack. A Rowlands corner was cleared and they broke away with two passes and put Viafara clean through, Camp came out and had no option but to bring the player down which would have been a red card but the referee did well to play on as the ball fell to Rasiak to tap into an empty net. Thorpe refereed the game quite well and used his common sense to give the goal rather than blow his whistle straight away.

He did miss a blatant handball though during injury time as they broke through again and Camp had to race out of his box and got a hand on the ball, the ref missed it though and they wasted the chance to get a thirds goal. I'd like to think the referee understood the occasion and decided against sending someone off but in reality he probably just didn't see the handball.

At half time the team were booed off which you can understand after a poor performance but I think the occasion had got to a few of the players and the reaction of some of the fans to every mistake wasn't really helping.

The second half didn't really improve as Southampton got a third goal soon after the break. Dyer again was the man to create havoc leaving Barker for dead and picking out Wright-Phillips with a lovely ball and the former Man City striker made no mistake from close range.

It was a case of how many they would get now and god knows how they only ended up with three as Rangers embarrassing defending continued.

We did have a decent spell when Leigertwood burst forward holding off two challenges and found Ephraim but the loanee's curling shot was just over the bar.

We had a few half chances after this but always looked vulnerable on the break and Stewart again handed two simple chances to Southampton. He was nowhere to be seen as he tried to play offside as he allowed Rasiak to run through but to Stewarts credit he recovered well to make a late challenge.

Camp made several good saves to keep the scores down including one from substitute Jason Euell.

Gregory made some changes bringing on Nygaard and Nardiello for Blackstock and Sahar. Nygaard was ridiculously booed again by some of our so-called fans, I know he's not the best player but why boo him before he's even touched the ball. To his credit Nygaard did ok when he came on and posed ore of a threat than Blackstock and Sahar had.

Rowlands was lucky to avoid a red card when he stamped on Vignal right in front of the linesmen but again Rowlands got away with only a warning.

Danny Cullip came on late to replace the injured Mancienne and he was booked for kicking the ball away in injury time.

The final whistle brought a few more boos to the team as the players looked very down as they walked off the pitch.

This was a dire performance but one the players should be forgiven for after a difficult week to say the least. Everyone reacts differently to grief and some of the players just couldn't cope with the game and the occasion yesterday.

Of course that shouldn't cover up the massive cracks we have in the side which are ones of John Gregory's own making. Since he arrived the same problems have been obvious but they continue to rear their ugly head.

We have no creativity in midfield and no wingers so we create nothing. Last season without Lee Cook we struggled to create anything and the same is true this year. The defence also looks woeful with this bloody zonal marking system at set pieces, which never works. That's two goals conceded to set pieces already this season.

Of the players Curtis was again poor and Chris Barker had the worst debut I've ever seen, Dyer took the piss out of him time and time again. He was Gus Ceaser like at times. As for Damion Stewart he really is poor and the only things he did well was two goal saving tackles after his initial cock ups left Southampton with sitters.

The only players to come out with any credit were Camp who kept the score down, Leightwood who looked like a defender out of position in midfield but did ok and Marc Nygaard who was booked again by a few idiots but at least put himself about.

We made Southampton look like world-beaters. I think Gregory needs to go out and bring in someone like Kavannagh from Sunderland on loan and find a winger on loan as well.

The only highlight was the announcement at half time that Flavio and Bernie want to get us back to the Premiership, which was greeted by loud laughter from 15,000 people.

The day will only really be remembered for what happened pre match when every fan played respect to Ray Jones and said goodbye to one of our own.

Man of the Match: Lee Camp

Players Ratings: Camp 6, Curtis 4, Barker 4, Stewart 4, Mancienne 6 (Cullip 6), Rowlands 5, Bolder 5, Leigertwood 6, Ephraim 6, Blackstock 6 (Nygaard 6), Sahar 6, (Nardiello 6)