Team Line Up
		24. Radek Cerny
15. Peter Ramage		3. Damion Stewart	13. Kaspar Gorkss		2. Damien Delaney
		6. Mikele Leigterwood (c)
25. Hogan Ephraim			18. Damiano Tomassi
			4. Gavin Mahon
		7. Daniel Parejo
		20. Emmanuel Ledesma
		9. Dexter Blackstock	22. Samuel Di Carmine
			11. Patrick Agyemang
Substitutes

It's safe to say the first days of Paulo Sousa's reign have not gone as well as many hoped. A thrashing at Watford followed by a farcical on/off Helgusson loan deal, rumours of player protests against the board and then the shock dismissal of Sheila Marson meant many fans going to the Charlton game last night were not in the best of moods.

The Helgusson deal has now been done but did become a bit of a joke when we gave him the wrong contract to sign. Sheila Marsons sacking is a real shock though and very sad news. Sheila has been at QPR since 1973 and worked among other roles as a club secretary. She was the point of contact for journalists, made sure transfer went through and many managers, players and fans down the years have sung Sheila's praises for the fantastic job she has done.

Sadly she has now gone and the club didn't even both to publicly thank Sheila for the 35 years service to the club. It was rumoured that Sheila was the one who leaked an email to the Daily Mail for the latest piece about the behind the scenes problems at QPR but that was not the case and yesterday Nic De marco, a lawyer and QPR fan who represented the club in recent years , came forward to admit it was him who wrote the email but he didn't expect it to reach the national newspapers.

Whatever the reason for Sheila's departure we won't know for sure but she has been a vital part of the QPR family for decades and I wish her all the best in the future and QPR will be a poorer place without her.

Of course none of that was Paulo Sousa's fault and his first game in charge saw him make changes to the team and the tactics. Fitz Hall missed out through suspension so there was a rare start for Kaspar Gorkss. Sousa went with a narrow diamond formation in midfield with Leigterwood holding, Tomassi and Ephraim ahead of him and Parejo behind the front two of Di Carmine and Blackstock.

There was a place on the bench for youngster Joe Oastler who joined the club from Portsmouth in the summer. It wasn't the strongest QPR side but with Cook, Rowlands, Vine, Buzsaky, Connolly and Hall all missing this was probably the strongest side we had left.

Before the game rangers held a bucket collection for the Kiyan prince foundation on what would have been his 18th birthday. The match was dedicated to him and hopefully a lot of money was raised for the charity in his name. In these times where the clubs PR gets worse but he day and direction of the club is questioned it is good to see the club doing something genuinely special for a Kiyan and his family.

So onto the football which didn't start that brilliantly. It was a cold night and the atmosphere was nonexistent in the QPR end as we kept the ball well but didn't really look like creating too much.

It was good to see Rangers looking to pass and move rather than take the easy long option and the quick throws from Cerny were obviously on instruction to build from the back. Charlton looked pretty ordinary early on and fragile at the back as Rangers had a few early chances with Leigterwood shooting wide and Parejo trying his luck from the half way line which caused the stewards more problems trying to collect the ball than the intended target.

It was hard to recall much happening early on but all of a sudden Rangers took the lead. Tomassi burst down the left and with a turn of pace left Cranie behind, well when I say turn of pace he jogged and Cranie was so slow he got nowhere near him. Tomassi picked out a cross to Blackstock who was unmarked and he swept the ball past the keeper for his eight goal of the season. It was woeful defending by Charlton but a good finish from Blackstock and Rangers were off and running.

The goal lifted us and we played some nice football keeping the ball well but not creating too much and Charlton began to believe in themselves a bit more and as they upped the temp they got back into the game.

On loan Keith Gillespie forced Cerny into a good low save and the chances began to come for a poor Charlton side as Rangers lacked width and they were able to get the ball out wide and put some dangerous crosses in. Stewart and Gorkss coped with most things well whilst Cerny had a mad moment when he collided with Leigterwood to flap at a cross but he recovered well to pounce on the loose ball.

I think it was around two minutes after my mate Neil said "This lot are crap, I can't see them scoring" that Charlton equalised. Rangers looked a bit panicked at the back as a ball into the box wasn't dealt with and the impressive Therry Racon turned it past Cerny to make it 1-1. That was probably a fair reflection of the game and Charlton grew in confidence and looked the better side as half time approached.

Rangers were keeping the ball well at times but had no width and that meant we had to keep going backwards much too many fans frustrations. Then again if they had booted it long the crowd would still have moaned so I suppose the players can't win.

At half time I think a draw was a fair result with neither side looking any good and this was turning into a game we really needed to win.
It was hard to drag ourselves out of the bar at half time as it was cold and the match was pretty dire but we did get back to our seats in time to see Agyemang come on for Di Carmine and he at least added some pace and urgency to our attacks which improved after the break.

Agyemang almost regained the lead for Rangers with a good turn and shot which went just over the bar whilst a lovely ball from Parejo put him through again but Weaver did well to deny Agyemang.

At the other end Charlton really should have taken the lead with three great chances missed. The First was great defending as a ball to the far post looked an easy tap in only for Delaney to get across and block it away for a corner. Delaney had a poor game but that was one excellent moment for him and shows he is still a decent player just in a run of bad form at the moment.

Gavin Mahon replaced Tomassi as the visitors got on top and should have won the game.

Sub Luke Varney and Bouazza shot wide before Varney missed an absolute sitter clean through one on one he volleyed high over the bar.
Former QPR target Mark Hudson should have made it 2-1 when he rose high to convert a Bouazza cross but he headed wide from four yards out when he should have scored.

Rangers were still in the game though and had a decent spell ourselves winning a few corners whilst Leigterwood shot wide of the post from the edge of the box.

Rangers then got the winner with a goal of high quality. We kept the ball well before finding Ephraim out wide and he picked out a brilliant ball into the box for Blackstock to meet with a diving header which looped over the keeper and into the back of the net. Relief all round and a ninth goal of the season for the much maligned Dexter Blackstock who gets plenty of stick but the fact is if we get quality delivery into the box he scores goals and he is well on course to get 20 goals this season.

Blackstock could and should have got his hat trick when Ephraim again burst forward and put in a great cross for Dexter but this time his diving header went wide of the post.

Charlton looked very flat now and created very little as the clock ticked down and Agyemang powered past the woeful Cranie (what on earth has happened to him in the last year) and his shot was saved by Weaver.

The final whistle was a relief to everyone in blue and white and a much needed three points had been won to get the Sousa era off to a decent start.

This was far from a convincing performance but with so many players out injured and a new style of playing introduced after just one days training this was not going to be perfect and the win should give us some confidence.

I felt Charlton were pretty poor but could easily have won the game and we'll have to step up our game if we are to progress this season. I felt Sousa's new diamond midfield worked reasonably well but will be better when we have Rowlands back who should be able to give us more width from a central starting position if that makes sense. For this game we lacked any real width and when we did get it wide we created chances so hopefully that's something we can work on.

Blackstock had a fine game up front scoring two good goals and hopefully his critics will leave him alone for a while, I'm not sure what people expect from him to be honest. He's never going to be a great player outside the box but when you get the ball to him he a good instinct and can finish things off for us. Nine goals in a side that creates few chances is a pretty impressive return in my book.

Rangers kept the ball well even if it was in our own half much of the time and the patient passing style may well reap more rewards when the confidence returns. Sousa has a lot to do if he is going to make a success of the QPR job but this was a decent start.

Rangers now go to an in form Crystal Palace side looking to finally score an away goal. We'll need to play a lot better to get anything from that game but stranger things have happened.

Man of the Match: Dexter Blackstock

Players Ratings: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Delaney 6, Stewart 7, Gorkks 7, Leigterwood 7, Ephraim 7, Tomassi 6 (Mahon 6), Parejo 7 (Ledesma 6), Blackstock 8, Di Carmine 6 (Agyemang 7)