QPR 3 Burnley 1

I don't think I can claim a full prediction victory here as it was at least one goal short of the "battering" I mentioned on Friday, and predicted before the game "if we get an early goal". After Sampsa Timoska made a last-ditch saving challenge early on, the goal arrived when Adam Bolder broke up a Burnley attack and sent a fine pass out to Lee Cook. Cook took it forward and, with the defender backing off, fired off a low drive that was a goal from the moment he hit it. One minor frustration with Lee Cook is that he ought to score more goals, he's definitely capable of doing this much more often.

Five minutes later though Burnley equalised, McCann finding the corner with a free header. Rangers had generally the better of it without creating too much, until 10 minutes into the second half Dexter Blackstock scored a very good goal, Cook's corner wasn't his to even win by rights but he burst in between two defenders and bulleted a header into the roof of the net. From this point the home side looked very solid, new signings Bolder and Danny Cullip calmed it all down, and most importantly passed it out of defence instead of lumping it away when Burnley threw on two more strikers. Steve Lomas made the game safe when he trundled into the six-yard box to meet Martin Rowlands' corner unchallenged, a poor goal for Burnley to concede but we'll take anything that's going.

With the new signings and the return of Rowlands and Ainsworth, Rangers looked a much more solid outfit, even bearing in mind that the opposition hadn't scored a goal for six weeks. Blackstock had a fine game in an unfamiliar formation, and Cook is back to his best. Other results went well and if this standard is maintained, we shouldn't have too much of a problem with the rest of the season. Burnley will be thankful that they amassed a decent haul of points in the first half of the season because they offered very little going forward. Akinbiyi looked off the pace and Cullip dealt with him very comfortably.