QPR 1 Barnsley 0

Rangers had to grind this one out and the result, if not quite the performance, was certainly a tonic. Gregory named what I reckon is pretty much our best XI. Cook and Lomas were back in midfield and, praise the saints, Rehman was on the bench. Rangers started brightly but the game turned on the quarter hour mark. Mauro Milanese, inside his own penalty area, appeared to place both hands directly in his opponent's back and give him a good shove. Half the ground sucked their breath in with an "ooh bloody hell" but somehow, from our POV, the ref didn't give it and there weren't even any appeals from the visiting team. Strange. Rangers went straight up the other end and Martin Rowlands' innocuous shot found a way through the Barnsley custodian and into the net.

Frankly I can hardly remember anything that happened after that. Stewart's slip allowed the ever-popular Leon Knight a run on goal but, as I said to the Camel, the difference between Stewart and Rehman is that while they both fuck up on a regular basis, Stewart at least has the pace to recover sometimes, as he did here, blocking the first shot and clearing the second off the line. Let's see, what else, Cook (who was mostly quiet) fired in an vicious free kick which either of Smith or Jones could have touched in but didn't ; Nardiello was blocked by the excellent Mancienne and also chipped a free kick over the bar ; and Rehman came on but managed not to ruin everything, somehow, and Rangers held on.

As I said, Mancienne was top class, looking twice the player at centre half that he did at right-back. It sounds like Rangers will be able to keep him for the rest of the season too. Jones had a decent game up front and Lomas tightened up the midfield with his presence, organisational skills and ability to con the ref. Having seen Southend, Hull and Barnsley now they are all rather poor and really anyone who can't finish ahead of those three deserves to go down. At least Rangers have put six points between themselves and the relegation zone before I head out West (and likewise Barnet eight), so we'll see what happens. This blog will be on hiatus till I get back, the main edge I have on here is actually going to games so without that you'll know as much as I do !