It seems like an age since Rangers last game and the stop start nature of our season switches to all systems go now with a game every few days for the next month.

Optimism was certainly high before this game with Ipswich the visitors to Loftus Road and with three games in hand going into this one this was a real chance to close the gap on the teams above us. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking this was just the sort of game with everything going for us that we'd mess up in and sadly that proved to be the case.

Paulo Sousa made just two changes to the side that drew at Nottingham Forest. Radek Cerny failed to shake off an injury to Lee Camp continued in goal whilst a slight knock to Damien Stewart saw him on the bench with Fitz Hall making a start in defence. Lee Cook also came back in the side ahead of Matteo Alberti. It was 4-5-1 again for Rangers with three strikers on the bench and plenty of options to change things if needed.

Rangers got off to a dream start and were ahead within two minutes. Delaney floated a free kick from the halfway line to the far post where Hall went up for it and the ball broke loose to Routledge. The tricky winger worked his way past two players before picking out a low near post cross for Di Carmine to peel off his marker and fire in a shot past Wright into the back of the net. It was a good goal and a good start for us but from that point on for some reason Rangers took their foot off the pedal, relaxed and rarely looked comfortable again.

Ipswich began to close us down and squeeze up the pitch which forced some mistakes. Rangers were trying to play the ball from the back but the midfield were not doing much to support this with Gorkks and Delaney having to go back to Camp with no support given by Mahon or Leigterwood and Camp's clearances were coming straight back at us.

The pitch wasn't helping much either with plenty of bobbles making it hard to play passing football, that's no excuse though as it was the same for both sides and within ten minutes of taking the lead Ipswich were deservedly level.

A corner on the left was scrambled clear possibly by the arm of Miller and as Ipswich appealed Rangers went to sleep. A simple ball into the box found Stead and with no one picking him up he flicked the ball past Camp for the equaliser. Poor defending by Rangers and once again we look far from comfortable at the back when Fitz hall is playing. To be fair to Hall he did a decent job for the side but for some reason the defence doesn't always look as strong when he is playing.

We looked in trouble every time Ipswich came forward and Counago should have made it 2-1 when a corner fizzed across goal was met by the Spaniard unmarked but he headed over the bar. It was poor again from Rangers and Camp could have done more to prevent it once again not making the most of a rare start for him in the QPR goal.

Gavin Mahon as getting a fair bit of stick from the QPR fans and did his cause no good with a terrible header back to Camp which was a good ten yards too short to reach the keeper. Camp came racing out to narrow the angle and did enough to put Stead off as he sliced his shot wide of the post.

Rangers had little to offer going forward with Routledge our only attacking threat. He did look dangerous with some great skills down the right but Rangers didn't get enough men in the box to get on the end of any of his deliveries.

At the back we continued to play it around the back but every pass forward was followed by a backward one and although we kept possession far too often we were putting Camp under pressure and on a bobbly pitch it's never a good idea to keep expecting your goalkeeper to kick it with any accuracy.

At half time it had been disappointing and in all honestly you could only see one winner and it wasn't Rangers.
We began the second half the same way and cries for Blackstock to come on got louder from the supporters as Di Carmine cut an isolated figure and for all our possession we rarely got more than one man in the opposition's penalty box.

Helguson came on for Di Carmine as we continued with 4-5-1 and the game didn't really change with us having plenty of the ball and created next to nothing. A long range deflected Leigterwood shot was the closest we came to a goal whilst Ipswich looked far more of a threat going forward with the midfield racing forward to support the front two.

A second goal came from Ipswich and it was a pretty special one. Mahon made a mistake giving the ball away after taking it off Hall to start with but Counago still had plenty to do as he brushed off two challenges before curling a shot past Camp into the back of the net. An excellent goal that gave Camp no chance due to the pace and accuracy of the shot.

Rangers finally reacted and threw a second forward on with Blackstock replacing Delaney as we went 3-5-2. The crowd booed with Mahon having an absolute nightmare in midfield but really Sousa could have taken any of them off and been justified.

The changes didn't have much of an impact and Ipswich were soon 3-1 up. It came from a lovely ball from Quinn cut the defence open and Walters ran past Gorkks to slot it past Camp and finish the game off.

At that point I feared we'd be losing by 5 or 6 in the end as we looked a shambles. Sousa made one last change taking off Miller for Balanta which brought boos and chants of you don't know what you're doing. After that Mahon's every touch was booed by some fans and it turned into a pantomime as others clapped his every touch. I'm not sure what those booing Mahon expected to achieve.

He had been very poor in this game but I said before he wasn't alone and didn't deserve the stick he was getting. Mahon is an easy scapegoat but it's easy to forget all the good he has done this season and he has played a big part in our defensive record by protecting the back four all season. On the one day he didn't we got slaughtered possibly showing how important he's been to us.

Rangers had a late chance to pull one back when Cook's cross was met by Blackstock and forced Wright into a good low save. Routledge had a late shout for a penalty turned away and in the end the players were booed off after a poor performance.

This was as poor as it gets for Rangers and Sousa. The manager looked a little out of his depth making poor substitutions and not really reacting to what was happening until it was too late. This is a learning curve for Sousa and he will certainly have learn a lot from this defeat which may well help in the coming months.

The 4-5-1 system has worked really well away from home on bigger pitches where the pace of Routledge can be a huge asset on the break but at home we need to get more men in the box and too often we got the ball wide only for Cook or Routledge to have to check back inside as they had no one to aim at in the middle.

It will be interesting to see how we play our next home game as I think we do need some more energy and attacking drive in midfield which new signing Jordi Lopez may be able to offer in this system much like Buzsaky did last season.

In the end though this was a bad day at the office for Rangers with no one coming out with much credit and it turned out to be a big reality check for those expecting a play off push this season.

Man of the Match: Wayne Routledge

Players Ratings: Camp 6, Connolly 5, Delaney 5 (Helguson 6), Gorkks 6, Hall 6, Mahon 4, Routledge 6, Miller 6 (Balanta 6), Leigterwood 5, Cook 5, Di Carmine 6 (Blackstock 6)