Since the Carling Cup draw was made back in September this has been a game on most QPR fans radar. A trip to Old Trafford and despite the ridiculous £40 price we still sold well over 6,000 tickets with around 7,500 making the trip to see us face the European Champions.

It's perhaps worth reflecting when expectations are so high at QPR than it wasn't long ago that trips to Manchester were done by QPR fans on route to bury and Oldham rather than to Old Trafford. This was just a cup game of course but going to the game it felt like we'd come a long way in the last few years.

We opted for an overnight stay rather than the six and a half hour coach journey that my dad had to suffer and the train up was full of QPR fans. As we walked through the town to our hotel you could hear shouts of UR'S everywhere as the pubs began to fill up with QPR fans.

After a few drinks we made our way to Old Trafford on a train full of QPR fans and the excitement was building as we arrived and made our up the hundreds of steps to the upper East Stand which looked like a building site on the way up.

Of course Old Trafford is a very impressive arena but getting food and drink proved to be almost impossible. Getting a beer was almost impossible with massive queues and the bar staff incapable of pouring a bottle of bud into a plastic glass, mine looked like an ice cream and a mate of mine had enough and helped the bloke out pouring his Boddingtons himself.

They had screens with MUTV on and the teams were announced. Man United as expected rested several players with Rafael, Evans, Gibson and Possebon given starts but this was far from a full reserve side with four players involved in the champions league final on show (Park, Tevez, Nani and O'Shea) along with Neville and Park made this the strongest side Rangers are likely to face this season.
Ainsworth went back to five in midfield for this one which was no shock. He made changes from Saturday's side with Daniel Parejo, Akos Buzsaky and Gavin Mahon came in with Tomassi, Di Carmine and Ledesma missing out.

We got to our seats and overlooking the pitch it was easy to see why teams struggle here, the pitch was huge and we were going to have to work bloody hard to get anything out of this game.

The teams came out with QPR fans giving a massive roar and singing hearts out for the lads. A minutes silence was observed impeccably by both sets of fans on Armistice Day before we were ready to get underway.

Man United kicked off attacking towards the end where the QPR fans were stood singing and it's no exaggeration to say we hardly got a touch of the ball for the first few minutes. United played it straight through us with neat incisive triangles and Nani's cross was blocked by Connolly for a corner with the home side calling for a penalty. The corner was headed clear by Blackstock but the pattern of the game was clear. Man United were having all the possession and Rangers were defending for deep and hanging on for dear life.

We looked frightened and in awe of the occasion and the opposition and I have to say I feared the worse as the home side stroked the ball around with menace around our box and looked like racking up a cricket score.

Rangers had no attacking ambition at all with Blackstock rarely making it past the half way line during the first half.

United were having all the game in an attack v defence game but they were not creating too much and we restricted them to long range shots which Cerny had no trouble with. As time went on Rangers began to grow a little in confidence and pass the ball around a bit with Rowlands and Mahon growing into the game. Parejo was having a mare though and looked like the occasion really got to him, his flicks and tricks were pounced on by a hungry United midfield and it seemed only a matter of time before he was taken off.

The home side continued to push for that opening goal and every minute that passed without them scoring seemed like a small victory for us. It was wave after wave of attacks as Fitz Hall did really well to cut out a Tevez run whilst Stewart was throwing himself at crosses to hear clear.

Man United were really using the full width of the pitch and Rangers were having to work ridiculously hard to live with the champions and quite how we were still level was a mystery.

We kept singing though and urging the team on before a big blow as Buzsaky took a knock to his knee and limped off. Agyemang replaced him and found himself doing plenty of defending from his starting position as a right winger.

As half time approached the home side had two decent chances to take the lead. First O'Shea did well to keep the ball in on the touchline and played it back to Tevez who shot wide. The Argentinean forward then played a neat one two with Anderson only for Hall to come across and block it.

Rangers had two minutes of injury time to deal with and we just about survived to go in at half time goalless. It had been a tough half for rangers though as we rarely ventured past the halfway line and I for one was pleased they had left the big guns out as this could have been embarrassing.

I'm not sure if our game plan was to sit back and play for penalties, to me it looked like we just couldn't get the ball off them to try and have a go and decided this was it just hold on for as long as we can.

At halftime we saw Kevin Gallen and Marc Bircham both posing for photos and having a laugh with QPR fans. We actually needed someone like Bircham out there to get stuck in and throw a few tackles in, we had just really stood off them all half and made it so easy.

Still it was 0-0 and anything could have happened but the second half started in the same vain despite a change by Ainsworth who took off Parejo for Ledesma.

Nani sliced a shot wide of the post and that was all United were reduced too faced with a wall of defenders they went with long range shots which rarely troubled Cerny.

Their best chance came after a great run by Tevez and his shot looked a certain goal before Cerny threw out an arm and made a magnificent save to tip it over the bar.

Man United were getting frustrated and after winning a free kick about ten yards outside the box Anderson managed to kick it out for a throw in much to the delight of the QPR fans who were urging the team forward in an attempt to give them some belief.

They were running out of ideas of how to break us down and we began to put together a few counter attacks but in good positions the final pass was usually a poor one with Agyemang failing to pick out an unmarked Cook and then Cook was easily outpaced by Evans as he tried to knock it and run into the box.

Park then went close beating Cerny with a shot but hit the post as Rangers continued to defend magnificently.
This must have been an abysmal game to watch for the neutral as Rangers just looked to hold on but from the away end we were having a great time and with our first meaningful effort on goal we almost scored. Ledesma beat O'shea with ease and picked out a cross to Blackstock but it was just behind him and although he managed to get a header on target the keeper made a comfortable save,.

Man Utd were looking more and more like they were going to need something special to break us down and Fergusson sent on young striker Danny Wellbeck for Possebon and four minutes later they had the lead.
Wellback ran onto an Anderson pass and he over ran it straight to Cerny but Ramage making his only mistake of the night left a leg out and the youngster went over it to win a penalty. It looked harsh to me but if you leave your leg out like that you are asking for trouble.

The Rangers fans sang Cerny's name as Tevez went on a bendy run up and made it clear which way he was going, the only person who didn't read it was Cerny as dived to his right as Tevez placed it in the bottom left hand corner.

It would be idiotic to suggest the goal hadn't been coming but it was still a blow to concede after defending so well for 76 minutes. Ainsworth made a change taking off Cook and bringing on Di Carmine to go for it and that made for a more entertaining last fifteen minutes.

Blackstock had a shot wide from the kick off before we got the ball in the back of the net and for a few fantastic seconds the world seemed a perfect place. Mahon his a half volley from the edge of the area which bounced to Di Carmine who headed past the keeper fort a simple goal. We roared with delight but he looked offside and the celebrations didn't last long. I thought the ball from Mahon took a deflection but it's hard to tell from where I was and there was no real protest from the QPR players.

Rangers were now throwing men forward with the attacking ambition many wanted to see earlier but that left gaps and Man Utd exploited it brilliantly cutting us apart with counter attacks as Rafael, Tevez and Nani were all denied but some fantastic saves from Cerny.

Cerny really was in fantastic form and the only way he was going to be beaten was a penalty.

Rangers gave it a real go as Fitz Hall joined the attack and we won two corners which were both easily cleared but every ball in the box by Rangers looked to be causing problems.

The referee gave three minutes injury time and such was the state of the game they started taking it to the corner to waste time before bringing on Vidic to shore up the defence.

In the final minute of injury time Rangers had a golden chance to nick a draw as a bal in the box was headed back by Blackstock and seemed to take an age to come down, Ledesma got on the ball from ten yards out and as we jumped to celebrate he shot just wide of the post with the keeper beaten. We were so close to an equaliser but that was the end of it and the final whistle brought a standing ovation for the team's efforts but it had ended in defeat.

As we waited in the rain for a train to take us back into town it was hard not to be proud of the team's efforts. Yes we had been outplayed for much of the game but we came so close to taking the champions of Europe to extra time and who knows what could have happened then.

This wasn't really a night for the attacking players to shine but Cook, Parejo and Blackstock were all pretty dire and looked light years away from being Premiership players.

On the plus side the back four were outstanding, Ramage kept Nani very quiet and in goal Cerny was outstanding.
It's easy to pick holes in the performance, as an attacking unit once again we were abysmal but against Man Utd at Old Trafford I'd take a 1-0 defeat to a late penalty.

We defended really well with every player working so hard for the team but the occasion did seem to get to a few of them . I think we could have pushed men forward on the break but looked scared to death at leaving gaps for them to exploit. This wasn't the best United side we could have faced but playing on such a massive pitch and in such an arena with the history etc can get to players and I thought it got to a few of ours. It's one thing to show attacking ambition as we did late on but that does leave gaps and against Man Utd you have to make sure you are in the game rather than throw caution to the wind and get slaughtered from the start.

I won't be too critical, if we had conceded early or in the first hour we could have been slaughtered and the plan to hold them a nick a goal wasn't far away from working.

We could have done better but we did pretty well and can now get back to reality on Saturday which won't be easy. One thing you can't fault from this QPR side under both Dowie and now Ainsworth is the effort and organisation. We look a strong unit at the back and certainly have a good base to build from in the coming months as we look to make trips to Old Trafford a more regular event.

Man of the Match: Radek Cerny

Players Ratings: Cerny 9, Ramage 7, Connolly 8, Stewart 8, Hall 8, Buzsaky 6 (Agyemang 7), Mahon 7, Rowlands 8, Cook 6 (Di Carmine 7), Parejo 5 (Ledesma 7), Blackstock 5