So here we go again, a new season began and for the first time in four years Rangers kicked off the season at Loftus Road.

With so much hope and expectation around the club it was going to be tough for the players and manager to please everyone but a home win was certainly the least most of the crowd expected.

After the massive season ticket price hike in the summer I was moved downstairs to the Lower Loft which was a new experience for me. I was looking forward to seeing the new changes in the ground and spotted a few straight away. The stands have been painted and that certainly gave the stadium a fresher look and the new big screen on top of the school end looked smarter than I expected.

Gone though are the betting shops in the loft replaced by more food outlets which is a shame for those like me who like a pre match bet. The club did have mobile beer dispenses though which seemed to speed up the service before the game and meant the blue and white bar (with sticky carpet now removed) was less busy than usual.

Comical Ali Russell has spoken a lot about having our match day experience enhanced and I have to say the pre match fireworks and flame throwers along with bloody cheerleaders did little to enhance my day and just left me with a feeling pretty empty about where the club is going.

We made our way to our new seats and saw our names on the back of them which looked like a bit of sellotape with my name typed on it, all very cheap and unlikely to last the season.

Rangers announced a new mascot before the game, it was a tiger called Sparks who came on dancing to the song Tiger Feet. The new mascot was shit but couldn't stop laughing at the cartoon to explain it all in the programme.

Basically Jude was on holiday talking about queen SPARK rangers and Spark the tiger thought Jude was calling his name so Jude explained all about QPR and Sparks asked if he could be mascot.

They flew on a gulf air flight to London and showed off sparks football skills to Rowlands and Ainsworth before Jude decided to carry on with his animal and humanitarian charity work (I wish I was making this up) and Sparks became the new mascot.

After this the teams were lead out by two gulf air stewardesses waving QPR and Barnsley flags as fireworks and flames were shot up in the air and the one thing I hate at football matches bloody cheerleaders were waving and shouting.

Cheerleaders are for American sports where fans make no atmosphere, this is England proper football where either the fans make an atmosphere or don't, there are no need for cheerleaders.

After than moan the teams shook hands and were off to warm up. It was now a chance to see what the team would be and Dowie had made some interesting decisions.

Radek Cerny got the nod in goal over Lee Camp. Personally I'd have gone with Camp but the former Tottenham keeper got Dowie's vote. The back four was as expected with Ramage and Gorkss making debuts alongside Hall and Delaney. Lee Cook got a rapturous reception and started on the left wing with Ledesma on the right and a central midfield of Mahon and Leigterwood. Up front was Dexter Blackstock and Patrick Agyemang.

Dowie had a strong bench with Lee Camp, Matthew Connolly, Matteo Alberti, Angelo Balanta and Daniel Parejo all available if needed.
Rangers had one more change for us as we switched to blue shorts for our new home kit. I quite like the blue shorts but we are looking more and more like Reading now.

After all the hype and pre match "entertainment" it was almost assured that Rangers would get off to a bad start and that's exactly what happened.

Barnsley looked hungry and chased down every ball and in Brian Howard had a player with the quality to open us up. In truth it didn't take much to open us up as our back four looked shambolic early on and allowing Macken space to fire in a first shot of the match which was comfortably saved by Cerny.

Rangers looked to build attacks through Cook and the winger was being roared on as he burst down the left but his ball across field found Agyemang who picked out Leigterwood in the middle but his header was straight at the keeper.

It was a fast start but Barnsley looked the more threatening and they opened the scoring after five minutes with a well worked goal. Rangers made it all too easy by just standing off and Howard's through ball caught Fitz hall out and was played in behind to Ian Hume who ran onto it and placed a shot past Cerny into the bottom corner. 1-0 to Barnsley and no more than they deserved. New era, same sloppy defending.

Some fans began to turn on the team and manager already but most stayed with the side as we looked to get back into the game.

Barnsley continued to look the more dangerous and two whipped in crosses from the right were flapped at by Cerny who was looking very uncomfortable.

A corner on the right was almost curled straight in as Howard again caused problems and Blackstock headed off the line. Cerny was the first player to get a bit of stick with fans in the R block singing There's only One Lee Camp at him before they bizarrely gave him a standing ovation as he ran over to take a free kick.

Rangers were restricted to long range efforts as the skilful Ledesma cut inside and shot straight at Luke Steele and from distance then Mikele Leigterwood had a go from long range but his shot was comfortably saved.

Barnsley were working hard closing down Hall and Delaney as they tried to play out from the back and we ended up having to go direct due to Mahon and Leigterwood rarely dropping back to collect the ball. It was all a big disjointed but things soon changed with a goal and confidence quickly returned.

Blackstock was brought down on the edge of the box to give us a free kick and it was in range for Ledesma. The argentine stood over the ball and curled the ball over the wall only for Steele to make an excellent low save. Rangers followed the chance up though and Agyemang and Hall pounced on the loose ball with Hall the one to get the final touch and level the scores.

There was relief around the ground that Rangers were level and we were soon in front as the confidence began to build around the side.

Cook ran at his full back on the left and won a corner which he opted to take. Cook put the ball into the box and it was half cleared as far as Hall who allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder and hooked a brilliant volley into the top corner. If Ronaldo had done that we'd never hear the end of it but this was Fitz Hall and it was still a brilliant goal.

Barnsley looked shell shocked and Rangers looked to take advantage with Leigterwood and Mahon both stepping up their game and started to take control in midfield. It was out wide where our creativity was coming from and Ledesma was splitting the fans with some great skills on the ball but also with some of his dives and antics at free kicks was basically cheating and won't win him many friends in England.

There were very few more chances before the break and Rangers went in at half time pretty fortunate to be in front but the job was half done.

The second half began much the same as the first with Barnsley on the front foot and forcing us to defend a few set pieces.

El Halmour was looking a decent player for Barnsley on the left and was causing Ramage a few problems but the debutant right back wasn't letting him have it all his own way in what was a good battle during the second half.

Rangers had the first chance to score in the second half with a counter attack involving Ledesma who found Agyemang but his weak shot was saved by the keeper. Agyemang was a frustrating figure during the game looking well off the pace and at times not interested and he'll need to show a vast improvement if he is going to play a role this season.

Rangers then had a golden chance to kill the game off when Blackstock appeared to be running the ball out of play and the big lump Darren Moore dived in and caught the Rangers striker and conceded a penalty.

I thought Blackstock would get up to take it but Fitz hall stood on the penalty spot and had the chance of a hat trick. This was a big gamble but according to the player he was the nominated penalty taker with Rowlands not playing.

Hall didn't look confident and from my new seat behind the goal I was ready to catch the ball but Hall went low to the keepers right and Steele guessed correctly and got down to make the save. A bit more power and Hall would have notched a hat trick, instead we were in for a nervy last half an hour.

Barnsley grew in confidence with the penalty miss and pushed forward with wave after wave of attack but they lacked a cutting edge up front whilst the final ball out wide was usually poor and easily dealt with by Cerny. The Rangers back four began to improve and get far tighter on Hume with Leigterwood was getting around the pitch well to cut out several attacks.

Ranger's main problem was being unable to keep possession and as the half wore on we began to sit deep and invite the pressure on. Gorkss was being penalised for fouls around the box as Macken backed into him time and time again and the ref kept falling for it. The set pieces came to very little though with Cerny gaining in confidence and punching the ball away to safety.

Iain Dowie made a change with around fifteen minutes left as the wonder kid from Real Madrid Danny Parejo made his debut replacing the ineffective Patrick Agyemang.

Parejo was easy to spot with his curly locks and he was quick to get involved playing just behind Blackstock and looking to chase every ball and his work rate was quite impressive for a skilful player.

He didn't get many chances on the ball but he did play two brilliant passes in behind the full back for Ledesma to run onto which is a hint of what is to come from him.

Ledesma was taken off late on to be replaced by Alberti who looked lively on the right wing for Rangers.

The referee then showed the first red card of the season with just a few minutes left. At the time it looked a foul on Parejo but a harsh red card but seeing it on television the tackle was high and dangerous and Parejo was lucky to walk away without a bad injury.

There was still time for Barnsley to have one last attack with a free kick on the right but Howards delivery was cleared by Hall and Rangers negotiated the four minutes of stoppage time without any more problems to start the season with a win for the first time since 2003.
The players got a standing ovation off the pitch and Fitz hall came over to re take his penalty and offer an apology to the Loft which was quite funny.

There is plenty to work on for Rangers and Iain Dowie will know this team is far from perfect but given time to gel we should be in for a good season. The back four improved as the game wore on and although Mahon and Leigterwood is not an ideal central midfield partnership the pair of them did reasonably well.

Our main problem was up front where we lacked a real threat although surprisingly for all the build up play we didn't create too many clear cut chances for the front two which is something that needs to be worked on.

Still any team that is missing Vine, Connolly, Rowlands and Buzsaky is not going to be at its best and with Parejo likely to earn a start soon we should see an improvement.

So a good start results wise for Rangers with plenty to improve on if we are to live up to our billing as one of the favourites for promotion.

Man of the Match: Emmanuel Ledesma

Players Ratings
24. Radek Cerny Cerny got the nod over Camp which won't please the young QPR keeper but Cerny looks set to stay number one and this was my first chance to see him live. He looked weak on crosses early on opting to punch rather than catch which almost lead to an embarrassing goal but as the game wore on he improved and made a few decent saves in the second half. His distribution was decent as he looked for quick throws out to the full backs and wingers. 6/10
15. Peter Ramage Another debutant and Ramage like most of the team started poorly but got better as the game wore on. He did a good job sitting deep and allowing Ledesma to get forward. When Ramage did cross the halfway line he put in two decent crosses into the box but most of his game was spent defending and he looked a decent signing. 6/10
2. Damien Delaney Damien didn't start well and positinally he was a mess early on but regained his composure and had a good second half. His entertaining overlaps returned in the second half along with a cheeky nutmeg by the corner flag which almost created a chance. Delaney did a good job backing up Cook and the pair of them look like developing a good relationship on the left hand side. 6/10
13. Kaspar Gorkss Kaspar Gorkss had a first twenty minutes he'd rather forget as his marking was non existent and his passing even worse. Gorkss grew in confidence as the game wore on and although eh gave away far too many free kicks after the break he did show far better composure on the ball and his defending at set pieces began to shine. Like many the report on Gorkss will be good but can do better. 6/10
5. Fitz Hall It was quite an afternoon for Fitz Hall. He started poorly being caught out for the first goal after getting himself in a poor position. He made up for that though with a solid defensive display after this and a couple of goals. His first was scrappy but his second and early goal of the season contender and his chance to get the hat trick was wasted when his penalty was saved. 7/10
20. Emmanuel Ledesma Ledesma was exactly what I expected of him. When he was on the ball he showed some real quality with flashes of skill and an excellent delivery from out wide and set pieces. He is two footed which is a rare thing in football nowadays but looked more comfortable cutting inside on his left foot. The downside was some of his antics rolling the ball forward at free kicks and his diving to win free kicks. He's going to be as popular as Robbie Savage at away games if he keeps that up and Dowie is going to have to try and knock that out of his game. He was my man of the match though and looks a very good signing. 7/10
4. Gavin Mahon (c) Gavin Mahon was given the holding role in midfied but did little to stop Brian Howard early on as the Barnsley man controlled the game. Mahon got stronger though as the game went on and began to stop the threat from midfield and forces them to wide rather than through us as they did for the first goal. I think he;s done his chances of staying in the side no harm at all on this showing. 6/10
6. Mikele Leigterwood I was surprised to see Leigterwood and Mahon both start but Leigterwood had the role to get forward and support the front two which is not something he's great at. He did give it a go though and smashed in a few long range efforts but doesn't really have the quality of Rowlands going forward. I thought his work rate was very good though and he covered so much of the pitch to cut out danger especially in the second half. 7/10
17. Lee Cook It was so good to see Cook back in a QPR shirt again and he was one of the few to start well looking to run with the ball at the Barnsley defence. His crossing was decent but not at his absolute best and Barnsley moved an extra man over to deal with his threat which made it hard for us to get the ball to him. Cook faded in the second half but overall it was a decent start from him 6/10
9. Dexter Blackstock A quiet game for Blackstock who was well marshalled by the Barnsley back four. He worked hard in the first half but didn't look as busy after the break. He made a good burst into the box to win the penalty but never really looked like scoring which makes his decsion not to take the penalty even more strange to me. 6/10
11. Patrick Agyemang Not a day to remember for Patrick Agyemang. From the start his body language looked all wrong to me and his work rate was pathetic. He showed a real lack of movement up front and rarely got involved in the game. He'll need to improve massively if he is to play any part this season. 5/10
SUBS
7. Daniel Parejo The young Spanish midfielder showed plenty of quality in his short time on the pitch. He looked to get on the ball and pass it and then move again. He was very much in the Spanish midfielders mould of Xavi and Fabregas but obviously has a long way to go before he can match their quality. He played two wonderful passes behind the full back and sliced a shot wide of the post and I think there is much more to come from him. 7/10
21. Matteo Alberti Alberti came on for the last few minutes and showed signs he could be another good addition. He worked hard on the right and was full of energy and pace which was good to see. 7/10