Team Line Up
		24. Radek Cerny
16. Matthew Connolly		3. Damion Stewart	5. Fitz Hall		2. Damien Delaney
		7. Daniel Parejo	4. Gavin Mahon
			Mikele Leigterwoood
20. Emmanuel Ledesma		14. Martin Rowlands (c)			10. Akos Buzsaky
Patrick Agyemang					Lee Cook
		9. Dexter Blackstock
Substitutes

Rangers first Saturday home game for a month saw bright sunshine in Shepherds Bush and a buzz around the place after the Carling Cup draw saw us face a trip to European Cup holders Manchester united, a fixture that is sure to produce a mixture of excitement and blind terror among the R's fan base.

Unfortunately the players seemed to have Old Trafford on their minds as they came out and produced a very lacklustre performance against a Derby side without an away win since March 2007 and who haven't kept a clean sheet since October 2007. The result really was inevitable.

Of course the build up to the Derby game was all about the ticket prices with derby rightly fighting and thankfully beating QPR into dropping the outrageous £40 upper school end prices to £30. QPR fans handed out leaflets before the game as a way of protest against the new prices which saw seats in the South Africa Road stand sold at the highest ever outside the Premiership.

Those fans in the £50 seats and those in the £40 Ellerslie Road stand seats must have wondered what on earth they had done and as predicted it was the team and manager who ended up feeling the brunt of the anger.

Plans for a silent protest were quickly shot down by those who seemed to be fully behind the clubs decision so in the end there was no vocal dissent towards the price rises which remain at Loftus Road with the Loft end likely to return to £40 for the Nottingham Forest game next month. More on that at another time though.

Iain Dowie made one change to the side that won at Aston Villa on Wednesday as Dexter Blackstock returned in place of Patrick Agyemang. That meant a first home start of the season for Akos Buzsaky who started on the left with Rowlands playing the advanced central role and Parejo deep alongside Mahon.

It was evident from the kick off that Rangers looked a little off the pace with some sloppy passing and nervous defending as Derby got in our faces and worked hard to win the second balls which they were doing to great effect.

On loan Arsenal midfielder Braziate got space out wide and played the full back in behind Delaney who found Paul Connolly on the overlap and his low cross was dangerous and with Cerny stuck on his line Stewart was forced to slice a clearance just wide of the post with Hulse waiting for a tap in. It was poor defending by Rangers and we had Stewart to thank for keeping us level.

Derby looked confident and well up for this game and crosses into the box were causing us problems with Cerny opting to punch the ball clear which was making us look a little nervous at the back Derby looked to make the most of our uncertainty.

Rangers showed glimpse of good football and creativity going forward as one sweeping move involving Buzsaky, Ledesma and Blackstock ended with a nice cross to Rowlands but he couldn't get any direction on his header which seemed to just hit him and fly wide.

Blackstock went close to giving us the lead after another good moved as Ledesma put Parejo through and he squared it for Blackstock to poke the ball past the keeper but excellent and brave defending by Leacock denied us the lead as some in the Rangers end were already celebrating a goal.

Derby continued to look the better side though and after more sloppy play by Rangers Brazaite put Hulse clean through but just as he looked ready to shoot Fitz hall sprinted across to make an excellent sliding tackle and prevent the danger.

Radek Cerny was having a tough afternoon but caused problems for himself for failing to wear a cap with the sun right in his eyes for the first half. This meant he was struggling to see and one long ball forward was straight at him and under no pressure he couldn't see the ball and tried a farcical punch which hit his chest and went out for a goal kick. It was comical stuff but watching Lee Camp probably didn't see the funny side and must wonder what he's done to be dropped.

Of course to blame Cerny for the first half performance would be ridiculous, he was poor but no worse than anyone else as the midfield failed to keep the ball or support Blackstock and it was really only the performances of Hall and Stewart that were keeping Derby at bay. Ledesma was booked before the break for once again arguing with the referee and he's not been the same player since the club produced t shirts celebrating his hat trick against Carlisle.

At half time Derby must have been delighted and I think Iain Dowie will have been happy to still be level and able to try and get something out of the team in the second half.

Rangers certainly started the second half with a bit more urgency and created a few early chances. Ledesma and Parejo combined on the right to work an opening and Ledesma saw his shot deflected off a defender onto the post and away for a corner.

Buzsaky ran over to take it and his deliver was cleared as far as Ledesma who shot just over the bar but it was certainly a promising start.
Derby were offering far less in the second half but rangers were still sloppy and I felt we needed an out and out winger to try and stretch the game as it was all very condensed in the middle of the park which was a little too easy to defend against.

Rob Hulse had another chance to open the scoring after a long ball was flicked on by Ellington and he raced through only for Stewart to brilliantly make up the ground and make an excellent goal saving tackle to keep the scores level.

Dowie then made a change and it was no real surprise to see Buzsaky go off who had been quiet and looked very short of fitness. On came lee Cook and straight away he offered us width on the left and a lovely ball from Parejo spread the play to pick him out and his cross was inches away from Blackstock at the near post. Rangers now had someone to provide some crosses but when Cook did this we never really got enough men in the box and the game was becoming very frustrating for Rangers.

The closest we came was again on the left as Rowlands came across to win the ball and cross to the near post for Blackstock who fired a near post shot past the keeper but it hit the inside of the post and came out to hit Carroll on the arse and was scrambled away.

Dowie then made another change with Leigterwood replacing Mahon in midfield perhaps to offer some fresh legs in midfield but the game didn't really change and Derby had two long range efforts one just over the bar and the other left by Cerny hit the top of the bar and went over.

The fans around me were moaning that we need to go 4-4-2 and that's what Dowie did bringing on Agyemang for the disappointing Ledesma and moving Rowlands to the right. The fans got what they wanted by the change also left us a bit open in midfield and with still no really support from midfield for the forwards we were not creating much. Parejo was getting more and more sloppy with his passing and the crowd's frustration was growing as was Derby's belief that they could nick this.

Derby sub Emmanuel Villa got a kick to the head as his side won a corner and after a long delay of him receiving treatment Derby took a corner and Rangers fell asleep. A ball to the far post was half cleared to the edge of the box then put back in for Albrechtson to fire past Cerny and under a bizarre attempted block from Agyemang which saw him jump over the ball.

Rangers now had to go for it and Derby sat back to soak up the pressure. With the extra man up front you'd have thought we'd get the ball in the box but we didn't really and I don't recall Agyemang touching the ball as we lost the midfield battle and were just crowded out.

After such a poor season last year for Derby it was hard not to feel pleased for them as another corner on the right saw some poor defending with Villa given a free header to finish the game off as Cerny had no chance. The Derby fans sang pig bag with the added bit of greedy bastards aimed at our own owners and this sparked some QPR fans into life singing £50 your having a laugh. A late protest that only really came as we'd lost the game.

At the final whistle Rangers were booed off by some and Rowlands ended up having a row with one fan in the Gold Ellerslie Road seats.

In the end I thought we got what we deserved for the greed and arrogance shown by the club over the ticket affair. The way Derby fought that and won that battle I was quite pleased for them that the team responded as well to beat us. They deserved it and we didn't.

I thought Dowie got the team slightly wrong, I'd have put Buzsaky off the striker and Rowlands on the left, not ideal but would have got Buzsaky in the game more and offered us some width which was badly lacking. When Cook came on and offered us an outlet on the left we only gave him the ball 4 or 5 times and out of those he produced three fantastic crosses which no one attacked in the box. It is a learning curve though and whilst we try and get the balance right in midfield I think we will lose a few games, I didn't expect us to hit top form until January and still think that is the case.

The fans around me were getting on my nerves with calls for 4-4-2. When we did go to that formation Agyemang did nothing and we conceded twice, not a coincidence in my book. I'm with Dowie in wanting to see our best players on the pitch rather than play an extra striker for the sake of it and try and control the midfield. It didn't work yesterday with so many players having an off game but it's not the end of the world and the team being booed off was a bit harsh.

Credit to Dowie and Tim Flowers though who were both interviewed after the game and were very honest about the performance which was refreshing to hear.

Rangers now have to bounce back and face a tough game against Blackpool on Tuesday before an even tougher trip to Birmingham next week. Dowie may look to freshen things up with some of the side looking tired after a busy few weeks.

Man of the Match: Damion Stewart

Player Ratings: Cerby 5, Connolly 6, Delaney 6, Hall 7, Stewart 7, Mahon 6 (Leigterwood 6), Rowlands 6, Parejo 5, Ledesma 5 (Agyemang 5), Buzsaky 6 (Cook 6), Blackstock 6