QPR surrendered their unbeaten home record without much of a fight in a drab encounter at Loftus Road. Rangers made two changes to the team that lost at Charlton. Chris Kiwomya and George Kulscar came in for the injured Kevin Gallen and suspended Richard Langley. Interestingly, Rangers attacked the loft in the first half for the first time this season.

Bolton started the brighter with some neat incisive football, which threatened to cut QPR apart. It was the Scandinavian players looking most impressive with Gudjohnsen, Johansen and Jensen breaking well from deep positions. Rangers looked very lightweight and despite looking solid at the back the midfield and attack struggled to string any passes together as the first half flew by without too much happening for Rangers.

Bolton went close on a few occasions and would have been in front if not for some erratic finishing. Dean Holdsworth rounded Harper but hit a tame effort straight at Baraclough. A fine run by Johnansen almost saw him finish but his shot hit the side netting.

Darran Ward was the only player who stood out for Rangers with his defending up to his usual excellent standard. Rangers finally made some openings as the half wore on with Jermaine Darlington getting a bit more of the ball. One superb cross by Paul Bruce was hacked away as Rob Steiner threw himself forward with a diving header.

Bruce himself then went close as the midfield began to battle for the ball. His shot beat the keeper but not the post as it hit the upright and Rob Steiner couldn't get a foot on the ball to touch it in. Steiner was then frustrated as good defending by former Spurs man Gudni Bergsson earned us a corner. This was taken short but it worked well as Bruce put in another dangerous cross but to his frustration not one QPR player attacked the cross.

So half time goal less and apart from the last 90 seconds of the half, QPR had been pretty woeful so far. As the weather turned even colder, Bolton kicked off the second half with Rangers looking a bit more up for it. Sadly this only lasted about five minutes before the attacking half of the field went back to sleep.

Paul Murray found himself working very hard in midfield to no avail as the lack of movement from the front two caused us to lose possession tine after time. Bolton then almost took the lead with a wonderful move. Crisp passing opened up QPR and the move was finished with a poor shot well over the bar. That let off was followed by another as John O'Kane produced a nice back heel for Dean Holdsworth to fire off target.

Rangers were living dangerously and only had a few corners to show for their efforts. The only goal of the game came for Bolton and it was a poor one from QPR's point of view. Rob Steiner gave away possession to Claus Jensen and chased his man back into defence. The defence and midfield just opened up for him though as he had an almost free run at the defence and moved onto his stronger right foot to send Lee Harper to wrong way. The goal was brilliantly simple but annoyingly preventable from our point of view.

Francis quickly made changes bringing on McGovern and Koejoe for Bruce and Kulscar. Rangers began to look brighter as we switched to a 4-4-2 formation. Bolton were defending well though and it would take something special to open them up. Steiner and Kiwomya did not look too likely to produce this before an Ian Baraclough cross evaded everyone and found Stuart Wardley in acres of space, unmarked and five yards out. For the first time this season he let us down with a terrible effort high over the bar when a goal looked certain.

To be fair to Wardley, he has bailed us out so many times this season, he can be forgiven this once. Wardley tried to make amends by putting Kiwomya through seconds later and his shot was tipped over by the keeper. Bolton looked happy to settle for what they had and Rangers lack of urgency saw a quiet finish rather than loads of pressure.

Wardley had two more chances to grab a point. Both headers from crosses. One was well saved again whilst the other went over the bar. Rangers then had three minutes of injury time to grab something but failed to do so and suffered their first home league defeat of the season. Bolton deserved the three points and are without doubt the most impressive team I have seen at QPR this century.

Man of the Match : Darran Ward

13. Lee Harper : Should have done better with the goal as Jensen made it obvious where he was gonna put the ball yet Harper went the wrong way. 6/10

22. Jermaine Darlington : Not a great game from Jermaine. He excites the crowd when he comes forward but produced very little today. 5/10

30 Paul Bruce : As usual puts some brilliant crosses in but drifts out of the game too much. 5/10

17. Chris Plummer : Did OK, the problem was not in defence today and he continues to do a good job for us. 7/10

32. Darren Ward : Very Solid again, likes to play the ball out of defence but was faced with no movement from front players today and was forced backwards more than he would have liked. 8/10

3. Ian Baraclough : His worst game of the season. He made several mistakes and needless fouls and some of his passing was dreadful. 5/10

27. Stuart Wardley : Gave all he had and never gave up but his miss has to be the worst seen this season. 6/10

7. Paul Murray : Very busy and the only creative force in the team, he did fade in the second half though. 7/10

15. Geroge Kulscar : Can't fault his commitment and but I don't have enough time to go into his ability. 6/10

9. Rob Steiner : Woeful. Offered nothing today and MUST improve. He is a shadow of the player we saw a few months ago. 4/10

11. Chris Kiwomya : Chris Kiwomya won't need me to tell him he was poor today but I'm going to anyway, Kiwomya, you were poor today. 5/10

35. Brian McGovern : Not his best game so far but did OK. 6/10

31.Samuel Koejoe : Played OK and was prepared to run at people but should have been put in a front three rather than on the wing.