Rangers secured their first win in five games, beating high flying Luton 1-0 at Loftus Road.

After an industrious but hardly pretty performance down by the south coast, two home games in the space of five days was the perfect way to try and get our season back on track. The result was obviously important and pleasing but there is still plenty of work to be done over the forthcoming weeks.

The three away games at Coventry, Northampton and Wolves brought a rather worrying statistic to light - just how easily at times our defence can be carved open. It appears that hard work has been put in on the training ground and although still not 'water-tight' the back four appear more of a unit after these two performances.

With 14 points already on the board Luton have made an encouraging start to the season. Clearly building on their momentum from the end of last season they have adapted well to life in the Championship. The loss of an important young defender doesn't seem to have affected the ship yet and they still sit pretty at the right end of the table. Perhaps they are in a similar position to us during our seven game winning run last season?

At around 7.45 there were vast spaces in all four stands at LR and the crowd at that stage looked to be our lowest in quite a while. Slowly but surely over the next ten minutes or so some areas filled up, most noticeably the bottom tier of the School End. The atmosphere from a QPR point of view in the first half reflected the low numbers and our performance.

Luton were fairly noisy while the Rangers fans (and team) struggled to get into their stride. With over 2,000 less regular supporters we are going to be hard pushed to re-create the great atmosphere that has become customary in W12 over the past couple of season. I just hope the prices are worth it and are making more money for the club. Oh and while having a moan why oh why is Mark Devlin still down as Chef Exec in the programme? Just thought I would bring that one up!!

Holloway made just one change from the starting eleven at Southampton by bringing in Ainsworth in place of Dean Sturridge. This allowed Stefan Moore to join Furlong in attack. The bench was again a strong one and included new signings Lomas and Langley, many (but not the man who matters) felt that one or both had a great shout of starting this match.

Luton started the stronger of the two teams and almost immediately Royce was called into action. It was similar scenario to Saint Mary's just a few days earlier as he had to make a save before many had the chance to take their seats. At this stage it looked like it would be another barrage of pressure from the opposition team.

Royce denied Warren Feeney with a point blank save, as a team we didn't look like we had a clue what we were doing. Luton were doing all the running and looked fairly dangerous every time they came forward in the first period. The goal eluded the Hatters though, both Brkovic and Nicholls had decent chances.

We didn't get going at all and to be honest rarely looked a threat. The referee was making more of an impression on the crowd (always a bad sign) with his constant petty decisions and insistence on booking Rangers players for going for 50/50 balls. The final card count didn't paint a fair picture of the game and the Luton player who appeared to kick out at Shittu should have at least received some sort of talking too. The man in black was ably assisted by two hapless officials as well. They were perfect for each other really.

Furlong and Moore were struggling together upfront and never really clicked. Now Moore comes across as a laid back sort of bloke in the interviews I've seen and this comes across far too apparent in his style of football. When he should be hassling the last man or goalkeeper he just doesn't seem to be getting close enough to them for my liking. This may indeed be slightly harsh on the guy but is just the impression I get from him. His pace is a menace and it would be nice to see him use it to his full potential.

As so often happens the second half was much more of what we want from a home team. We started to look dangerous going forward and Lee Cook was seeing more of the ball out wide. Furlong was also getting in on the action and had one rasping shot saved.

The back four looked tighter as well and the Luton strikers were getting little change out of Shittu and Santos. Shittu was pretty much superb again tonight and it just goes to show how much better we play when he is right on form.

Rangers took the lead around the hour mark, Furlong was upended and after much debate Lee Cook stepped up to take the kick. With plenty of movement of players pushing and shoving in the area Cook managed to curl the ball round the wall into the corner of the net and LR erupted. Luton looked shocked and couldn't believe their luck.

It was a definite improvement in the second half and we started to further take the game to the Hatters. Ainsworth was replaced by Richard Langley to a generally good reception, although it is again so disappointing to hear stories of our own fans booing one of our own out there playing for our team.

He played wide right and soon had a chance as he had the ball at his feet on the right hand side of the area. Langley looked up and played the ball to Furlong who was unmarked on the penalty spot. Looking like a striker out of form he snatched at the chance and it ended up in the Loft. He probably had so much time that he could have taken a touch but that is how your luck goes when you haven't scored in a while.

Newell responded to our changes by throwing two subs on and getting the ball forward quickly to the front players. This was child's play for Shittu though as he seemed to be everywhere across the backline heading balls away assisted by Milanese, Bignot and Santos.

We were soon down to 10 men though as Doherty pushed the self-destruct bottom at the School End. I didn't see the incident clearly but it appears he lashed out and the writing was on the wall for the Irishman. He will be absolutely gutted by what he done as he let his team-mates and manager down. Not only that he has now lost his place for the next three games, rather him than me trying to get back with Lomas, Langley and Rowlands all scrapping over the spare spot.

We quickly changed things with Lomas and Nygaard coming on for Furs and Moore. Nygaard was now playing the lone striker role while Lomas slotted into midfield. Nygaard appeared keen to make an impression but badly lacks a decent touch. He had a great chance to seal the win but couldn't finish a one on one with the keeper after a mistake by a Luton defender.

Luton continued to blast long balls into our area and unbelievably we kept solid and stuck to our guns. Shittu was fantastic but special praise should also go to Milanese and Bignot who had good games. Milanese, as well as being decent on the ball is also very good in the air. Santos had his usual display of mixing the unbelievable and his own brand of slapstick football. An early attempted left foot pass left me stunned as it trickled out of play with no Rangers player within 15 yards of the ball. As did a bizarre decision to back heal the ball when we were heavily under pressure. It must seem like a good idea in his head but I just wish he wouldn't put some many into practice!!

It wasn't always pretty tonight but it was certainly a vital three points. We got better as the game progressed and when in full flight - looked a much better unit. Some of our play was still very bunched in the centre of the field and I would love to see us utilising our wide men more.

We now need to start creating plenty of chances for Furlong and the other striker, the man badly needs a goal and fast. Leeds Saturday is another tough test but rather typically we play better against team at the right end of the table. With Langley and Lomas adding greater competition to an already top-heavy squad of midfield and/or versatile players - Ollie is going to have some tough decisions to make.

QPR: Royce 7, Bignot 7, Santos 7 , Shittu 8*, Milanese 7, Ainsworth 6 (Langley 61 7), Bircham 7, Doherty 6, Cook 7, Moore 6 (Lomas 83 N/A), Furlong 6 (Nygaard 83 N/A).
Subs Not Used: Cole, Evatt.
Sent Off: Doherty
Booked: Furlong, Shittu, Bircham
Goals: Cook 58.

Luton: Beresford, Edwards, Coyne, Perrett, Davis, Brkovic, Nicholls, Robinson (Morgan 74), Underwood (Holmes 88), Feeney (Showunmi 74), Howard.
Subs Not Used: Brill, Barnett.

Att: 13,492

Man of the Match: Danny Shittu - 8 - It seems like his name has been read out after every home game so far but what can you do after such a good second half performance? It just worries me that he may be off elsewhere if we don't have a good crack at promotion this performance. Sorry, this was supposed to be the good paragraph wasn't it?!

Ref: M Thorpe (Suffolk) - 4 It's like a lottery really getting an official in this league. On the rare occasion they are decent they let games flow and don't punish people for stupid things. Well, we got an awful ball tonight and how he ever gave a foul against Doherty for a superb challenge near the centre circle I will never know.

Photo: Action Images

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