QPR ripped Crystal Palace apart with a blistering second half fightback in the London derby at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Rangers finished on top in a pulsating London derby that had goals written all over it. The less than impressive crowd inside Loftus Road certainly couldn't argue about the entertainment value; however Palace supporters will be disappointed to have lost after taking a lead against a leaky Rangers defence.

Following on from another thriller at the Hawthorns - it's clear that John Gregory has installed a never-say-die attitude in his troops. However, he'll be tearing his hair out at his team's ability to gift some goals to the opposition.

Gregory stuck with the same team that grabbed a draw at West Brom and our two loanees from down the road continued their learning curve in W12. Stewart and Rehman, for all their mistakes, are at present our first choice partnership at the back and Gregory doesn't seem to want to change that area.

After our previous for conceding goals within the first ten or fifteen minutes, it was a relief to see us keep at Palace at bay during the opening encounters. Early efforts by both sides were long range shots with Ainsworth and Tom Soares both sending efforts flying over the bar.

Jodi McAnuff was the first man to make a keeper work with a 20 yard drive that Royce dealt with. The lively Dexter Blackstock was the first to test the visiting keeper, with Flinders reacting quickly. Then the equally effective Lee Cook sent a low shot that was parried by Flinders. The Eagles took the lead after half an hour when the Rangers defence again went to sleep. Jobi McAnuff got the better of Mancienne after the loanee got dragged out of position. McAnuff hit the by-line and Rehman didn't know if he should go to him or cover the six yard area. With him caught in no mans land McAnuff swept the ball in to the six yard box and Tom Soares crept in front of our defenders to beat Royce to the ball and Palace were one up.

Their lead barely lasted for two minutes. Rangers first forced a corner kick which Ainsworth blasted over from and then moments later we got our equaliser. Blackstock fed the ball to Gallen who swept the ball back to Smith and everyone knew what was coming next. Smith cleverly controlled the ball with his chest and hit a sweet dipping shot that looped over the keeper from 25 yards out.

Palace came back again and managed to take a lead into the break. After 43 minutes they won a corner, a group of Palace players huddled around on the edge of the box and then darted out in different directions as the ball was played in. Our defence struggle to cope with forwards standing still at times so they didn't have a clue how to handle this. Cort won the ball and headed down for the ever-so-annoying Clinton Morrison to bundle the ball over the line while our defence looked on.

As soon as the whistle blew for the start of the second half Lee Cook started to have more of an influence on the game. Within minutes Danny Butterfield had found his way into the ref's book for tugging on Cook's shirt after the Rangers man had darted round him.

Rangers then appealed for a penalty when Ainsworth went down in the box but was he never going to win it and it certainly didn't look like a spot kick from the South Africa Road stand.

Kuqi had the first chance of the second half and he should have really buried the game beyond Ranger's reach. He was put through in a one-on-one with Royce but the Rangers man came out on top.

The action flashed down the other end and after Cook had tormented the full back once again he put in a great cross that wasn't cleared properly by Palace. Lomas was quickest to react and smashed the ball home from 12 yards. Lomas and Rehman (of all people) were stretching for the ball and the former Northern Ireland international connected well to score his first goal since October 2004.

Rangers were now in the groove and were making wave and wave of attacks on the Eagles. Marcus Bignot even tried his luck from 30 yards out and his long range effort bobbled just in front of goal but went just wide of the keeper's post.

Then, six minutes after the equaliser we took the lead for the first time. Cook was running the Palace full back into the ground and he just couldn't contain him. The Rangers wing man was sandwiched between two men but wriggled his way with a breathtaking piece of skill and then cut inside into the box. It was here that Butterfield dragged him down and the ref pointed to the spot.

It should have really been red for Butterfield as it was his second bookable offence. But the ref kept his cards away - the same happened a few weeks earlier to us when Rehman should have really been sent off after giving a penalty away.

With Martin Rowlands missing, club captain but not for the game, Kevin Gallen stepped up and sent Flinders the wrong way to send the Rangers into the lead. Loftus Road was now lively with all the goal-mouth action and the fans were baying for more.

Lee Cook was once again involved in the next goal and his superb in-swinging corner was met by Smith, who had the task of tapping home from all of six yards out. Smith ran over to the stands in delight, pulling away at his QPR shirt.

It was great to see us score from such a superb corner from Cook, for too long we've messed around with them and haven't put the right deliveries in but today Cook was brilliant and his delivery was perfect.

Palace replied by bringing on ex-Ranger Dougie Freedman. With ten minutes remaining Blackstock nearly got the goal that all his hard work and tireless running deserved. He sold a Palace defender with a tremendous dummy and his resulting shot was well saved by Flinders in the Palace goal. That was the last chance of the game, by the final few minutes Palace looked a broken side.

Overall it was a breathtaking 90 minutes which had everything a derby game should contain. Our games at the moment put the fans through all emotions but neutral fans could have appreciated the value of the game today.

We are a real force going forward and even without Rowlands playing we scored four goals and could have easily scored more. Cook was delightful throughout and Peter Taylor admitted after that they couldn't cope with him. Ainsworth on the other flank worked hard and gave the full back plenty of running to do.

Jimmy Smith had his best game so far in a Rangers shirt. He marked it with another trademark goal but this time his all-round game was up to the same standard. In previous game he had often gone missing, especially in the second half, but today his had his most complete performance yet.

Steve Lomas marked his performance with a goal which he took very well. We saw the good and the bad side of him though I feel. He dictated play at times in the middle and used his experience well. For example laying the simple ball off and intelligently heading the ball out wide for Ainsworth on a few occasions. However we also saw the other side of Lomas which his petulance which resulted in him being booked down near the School End.

Dexter Blackstock, as already said, worked extremely hard and really deserved a goal. He put in a tremendous amount of work and it would have been fitting if he grabbed a goal. It is certainly proving beneficial to have a striker with genuine pace causing problems for the opposition. Alongside him, Gallen slotted in well and took his penalty calmly.

The defence, well what can you say?! At times it's quite frightening watching them. We saw Stewart and Rehman at times even getting the most simple of marking decision wrong and leaving players free. This just can't continue and I don't know what else they can do but lock them in the training ground for 12 hours everyday until they get it right. Stewart improved as the game went on and was solid in the second half.

Bignot had another steady game at left back and apart from a couple of minor mistakes played very well. Macienne struggled at times at right back. He said in the programme notes that he's a natural centre back so its strange he's being played out on the right, or perhaps it shows how short of quality we are at the back. He can definitely control and pass the ball well but has a habit of getting caught out of position and is on a fast learning curve at right back.

Overall it was a pulsating game but how long can we keep on being involved in games like this?! Its becoming a habit now and it must take something out of the players, but going one down we leave ourselves a mountain to climb. At the moment, things are going well attacking and in front of goal - but what happens when the goals dry up a bit? Then we might have a few problems, but while we're attacking like this, games will always be interesting.

QPR: Royce 7, Mancienne 6, Stewart 7, Rehman 5, Bignot 7, Ainsworth 7, Lomas 7, Smith 8 (Ward 90, n/a), Cook 9*, Gallen 7 (Nygaard 81, 6), Blackstock 8.
Subs Not Used: Paul Jones, Milanese, Rose.
Booked: Lomas.
Goals: Smith 34, Lomas 59, Gallen 66 pen, Smith 69.

Crystal Palace: Flinders, Butterfield (Freedman 69), Cort, Ward, Granville, Soares, Lawrence, Kennedy, McAnuff (Hughes 82), Morrison, Kuqi.
Subs Not Used: Kiraly, Fletcher, Green.
Booked: Butterfield.
Goals: Soares 30, Morrison 43.

Attendance: 13,989.

QPR Man of the Match: Lee Cook - Once again outstanding for Rangers. He makes at least one goal a game at the moment and had a hand in three of ours today. Just how long can we keep him with him playing like this? Good question, lets enjoy it while we can.

Ref: P Dowd (Staffordshire) 5 - Mr Dowd rightly awarded QPR a penalty but he should have really shown the Palace man a red card as well. He had a particularly poor first half and was responsible for stopping play on a number of occasions. He drew a fair amount of stick from the fans as well for his strange decisions.

Photo: Action Images

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