Team Line Up
		24. Radek Cerny
15. Peter Ramage		3. Damion Stewart	13. Kaspar Gorkss		2. Damien Delaney
5. Fitz Hall					9. Dexter Blackstock
		4. Gavin Mahon
		6. Mikele Leigterwood
14. Martin Rowlands (c)			25. Hogan Ephraim
		17. Lee Cook
		27. Heider Helgusson	11. Patrick Agyemang
Substitutes

Apologies once again for the Lateness of getting this match report online. Due to a busy time t work and Christmas festivities it's not been easy to get five minutes to myself let along enough time to update the site so hopefully a near normal service will be resumed now.

Anyway the Preston game and what a game it was.

Sousa continued with his diamond formation and made just one change to the side that drew at Plymouth with Hogan Ephraim starting in place of Leigterwood. Of course this week saw Daniel Parejo return to Real Madrid but another of the foreign loan signings Emmanuel Ledesma made a welcome return from injury among the substitutes.

Rangers started well and were right on the attack from the start. Lee Cook was excelling in his free role behind the front two and created problems from the start. He latched onto a loose ball around 30 yards out before running towards goal and curling a great shot which was very well saved by the keeper but it fell to Agyemang with a simple tap in. Agyemang had the whole goal to aim for but somehow managed to hit it straight at the keeper before falling over, I don't think any of us could believe he missed it and the replay on the big screen made it look even worse.

Rangers were flying and won a few early corners which Preston were struggling to deal with before we took the lead. Cook again was the man for Rangers collecting the ball on the left and taking a touch before whipping in a great angled cross for Helguson to head past the keeper and give us the lead. It was a great delivery and a good header from the impressive on loan striker.
Rangers continued to attack with Cook and Rowlands showing how not to take short corners whilst Agyemang shot well wide from the edge of the box in another attack.

The game began to turn though as Rangers sat back a little and Preston began to get back into it. In all honesty it was no real shock when they equalised. It was a good goal as well as they put a cross in from the right and Sedgwick rose above Ramage to fly in with a header that gave Cerny no chance. The Rangers keeper looked furious and it was slack defending from Rangers.

For the next few minutes we looked in trouble as Preston pushed for a second goal and Mawene volleyed just over the bar with Cerny looking beaten.

Rangers decided enough was enough and started attacking again with Cook and Ephraim linking well to create a half chance for Agyemang. We regained the lead midway through the half with a bit of a scramble. Rowlands corner was headed down by Stewart for Helguson to boot Cook off the ball in the six yard box and nudge the ball over the line. The referee looked like he was going to disallow it for some reason but it was all fine and Helguson had his third goal in two games.

The rest of the half was all Rangers and it was difficult to understand how we didn't extend the lead.
Cook twice went close just missing the ball with an air shot after a good ball by Agyemang before he later cut inside and with a cross he deceived the keeper and hit the bar.

At half time Rangers deserved the ovation they got, 2-1 up and it really should have been more.
The second half though was a different story and despite a bright start which saw Cook and Agyemang again go close Preston got on top and once again forced an equaliser.

This time it was a controversial one as Sean St Ledger was beaten to the ball by Cerny and the ref gave a penalty. It looked debatable at the time but seeing it on television later it was an awful decision that you'd expect a top referee to get right.
As Callum Davidson stepped up to take the penalty my Dad said Cerny always goes the wrong way and he was right as Cerny went left and Davidson passed the ball into the bottom right hand corner. 2-2 now and very much game on.

Sousa made a change bringing on Leigterwood to Mahon and the change almost worked with Leigterwood curling a long range shot just wide. Preston were looking the more likely to win it though pushing us back and only some brave defending by Gorkss and Stewart was keeping the visitors out.

Rangers were struggling and the full backs in particular were not playing well. Sousa then gambled and made a bold change. Off went Ramage and Delaney much to the confusion of everyone and on came Hall and Blackstock as Rangers went 3-4-3. As a fan I was confused but not as confused as the Preston players were unable to cope with the change and rangers dominated the final ten minutes.

Cook was now back in the game and he was full of confidence beating his full back with ease and picking out Agyemang with a cross and his looping shot was headed off the line. Rangers were on the up now and Blackstock had a penalty claim turned away after a shove to the floor by a Preston defender. It looked as much of a penalty as the one given at the other end.

Preston were forced to kick Cook out of the game and one high and nasty tackle on him won us a free kick. Rowlands took it and for once beat the first man and lifted a great ball into the middle for Blackstock to rise and glance a perfect header into the back of the net. The Rangers fans went mad as did the players and we'd won it.

The final few minutes saw Rangers see the game out with ease and it was a big win for QPR and a big assist for Paulo Sousa.

His changes won the game for Rangers as he continued to impress the QPR fans with his managerial style. This was a good performance by Rangers and a cracking game. Cook and Gorkss were again very impressive whilst Rowlands had another good game in midfield and Helguson looked a real threat up front.

We're not perfect yet and need a few new players but the improvement under Sousa continues and I think the playoffs are a realistic target
if we can win an away game or two.

Man of the Match: Lee Cook

Players Ratings: Cerny 7, Ramage 6 (Hall 7), Delaney 5 (Blackstock 7), Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Mahon 6 (Leigterwood 7), Rowlands 7, Ephraim 7, Cook 8, Helguson 7, Agyemang 7