At the end of a traumatic week QPR were held to a draw by newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday at Loftus Road.

It's fair to say that supporting QPR should probably come with a health warning. Some kind of message on the front of the season ticket book would be handy, along the lines of: "Possible high blood pressure, sleepless nights, back ache (due to poor leg room at LR) and untold side effects which could make you do any number of untold stupid acts."

These aren't easy days for the R's at the moment, after years of quite frankly trudging around in shit we have managed to rise again and are slowly but surely improving on the field. Off the pitch, things have never quite managed to keep up but the recent impression was one certainly of happier times ahead in W12. Or was it? Well we haven't got time to go into the ins and outs but it's fair to say that recent tabloid activity surrounding QPR could happily fill the next couple of series of Sky One's Dream Team.

An old cliché yes, but who says a week is a long time in football? Well it certainly has been in the case of QPR. A week earlier and thoughts were on going top of the league at the half-finished Ricoh Arena and now - two awful defeats, a draw and a broken boardroom later, many things seem to be in tatters.

A crowd of 12,131 saw this game, a combination of the Sky cameras, high ticket prices, R's who couldn't be arsed and a long trip for the travelling fans made this the lowest gate we've had since being back in this league. In truth, those that didn't attend, hadn't missed a classic.

The empty seats didn't give off the impression of fortress Loftus Road, which I'm sure Holloway would have liked. Early on the crowd tried to get some chanting going but that had all but disappeared by the second half.

As expected changes were made from the poor showing at Northampton. Royce started in goal behind Bignot, Milanese, Shittu and Rose. The midfield saw Birch and Doherty in the middle assisted by Ainsworth and Miller on the left hand side. Up front the striking duties were with Furlong and captain, Kevin Gallen.

Sheffield Wednesday, by all accounts had injuries going in to this game, Paul Sturrock must be pulling his hair out after their disastrous luck. Ex-loan Ranger Frankie Simek lined up for them at right back, while Lee Peacock was a recognisable name up front for the Owls.

The game started with both teams attempting to play some football. The results weren't always pretty though and Wednesday from the outset looked like a difficult team to break down who get plenty of players behind the ball.

One of the best moments of the game came when The Doc slipped through a delightful ball to the feet of Gallen. Unfortunately I think it fell on his left foot and his weak shot was easily saved - if his shot had half of the quality of the pass it would have been a great goal. The Doc was imposing in central midfield during the first half and was constantly urging his team mates on.

At the other end there was little in terms of clear cut chances for Wednesday. The back four looked much stronger and Shittu was imposing. Bignot seemed better than his dodgy pre-season and Rose looked a far better player in the centre of defence. Rosey has his critics but he was the one always showing for the ball when Royce was looking for an option.

Milanese made his home debut at left back and had a very steady and encouraging game. He is a tall player and can clearly play football (not surprising considering his career stats) and fitted in the team well. Still sporting the head bandage from the Coventry game, he will hopefully be a reliable option when his fitness improves.

In front of Milanese, Adam Miller wasn't having the best of games. He looked horribly out of place and didn't fit in with the structure of the team at all. I'm in two minds about Miller. On the one hand he has made a huge step up from non-league playing only a handful of first team games and again not playing in his natural position. On the other hand he hasn't improved on many aspects of his game - e.g. positional sense and his body strength. It won't have done much for his confidence either as he was taken off and replaced by Moore ten minutes into the second half.

Other highlights of the first period included an excellent Ainsworth volley. After good work and a great cross from Gallen down the right, Ainsworth hit a sweet shot that Lucas tipped round the post.

Luck certainly wasn't on the side of the Owls, during a half hour spell ending in the fiftieth minute they had three taken off injured, the third (Diallo) was taken off on a stretcher. This is normally the sort of thing that would happen to QPR, the remaining Wednesday players dug in though and produced a battling performance.

Wednesday did have a couple of decent chances in the second half despite their awful injury luck. Blunt put in a great ball across the box but the striker failed to connect properly with the ball.

A mix up between Shittu and Royce nearly let Adam Proudlock nip in to take advantage. I didn't think Royce had the best of games to be honest, some of his kicking was poor and he didn't have the authority in the box which was much needed.

Matthew Rose, as already mentioned was solid throughout, except bizarrely when he tried to head the ball when it was far too low down. His clearance landed at the feet of a Wednesday player and Royce had to make a point blank save.

Furlong had a couple of second half chances as well, both with his head. One was after a cross from Bignot while the other courtesy of a Doherty pass. Things just don't seem to be happening for Furs at the moment. No matter how old any striker is, a goal can do wonders for their confidence and he is no difference. Compared to last year he just looks slightly off the pace at the moment. Unless he is regularly banging them in I don't think we have a man reliable enough to deputise with the goals.

Wednesday were reduced to ten men after Hills received his second yellow card of the evening. There was nothing malicious about his challenge but he caught Ainsworth late and didn't argue with the decision.

We had another excellent chance near the end of game. A free kick was sent in by Doherty and Gallen saw his shot turned away by the keeper. He couldn't hold it and the ball bobbled around dangerously close to the line. Furlong was sniffing around the danger but couldn't find the angle to turn the ball over the line.

I'm sure Sturrock, his players and the travelling supporters would have been delighted with this point. They fought hard throughout and he will be pleased with their battling qualities.

From a QPR point of view, it was another frustrating night. The players must have been affected by what's happening off the pitch and after apparently seeing Paladini and Power together before the game - they must have wondered (a bit like the rest of us) what is actually going on?

I think that if we had got a goal the floodgates could have opened - but Wednesday stood firm and deserve credit. Encouraging signs came from a much improved defensive display as well as the individual performance of Milanese. Shittu was of course a welcome return to the backline but there is one point of concern over his game. He managed to get in a bit of an argument again tonight with one of the Wednesday players and when he does this the red mist descends and he loses concentration. We all know what happened at Coventry with tragic consequences, I would have hoped he has learnt from that.

Doherty was imposing in the first half but lost his way during the second period. Ainsworth was full of his usual running and kept on battling towards the end. Our strikers don't quite look with it at the moment and we need someone to stand up and be counted and start banging them in.

Bircham was again disappointing in my opinion, as was Miller. Hopefully after Wolves on Tuesday night the break will give players such as Rowlands a chance to get fully fit.

Leading up to this game it reminded me very much of our home game against Cardiff last year. We had just come off the back of a thumping against Leads and rumours were rife about Holloway. The team picked themselves up, put on a battling (but certainly not pretty) display and got the points. I was hoping the same would happen today, but some players ran out of ideas towards the end of the game.

The final whistle also brought with it a series of 'boos' from some home sections, I just hope that this was directed at certain individuals behind the scenes and not the players themselves. They aren't perfect by a long stretch of the imagination but at a crucial time like this, little do they need jeers to make matters even worse.

A visit to Wolves is up next for QPR and this will be a very tough game. Holloway has already said we need to defend like Wednesday did - and he isn't wrong. A victory would bring welcome relief to fans, players and management alike. Hopefully then the extended break could bring some much needed normality back to the club before we visit Southampton on September 10th.

Come on U R'sssssssssssssss

QPR: Royce 6, Bignot 7, Shittu 8, Rose 8, Milanese 8*, Ainsworth 7, Bircham 6, Doherty 7, Miller 5 (Moore 56, 7), Gallen 7, Furlong 6.
Subs Not Used: Bean, Brown, Shimmin, Hislop.

Sheff Wed: Lucas, Simek, Coughlan, Diallo (Wood 50), Hills, Partridge, Rocastle, Whelan (Brunt 22), O'Brien, Peacock (Proudlock 41), Graham.
Subs Not Used: Lee, Eagles.

Sent Off: Hills (77).
Booked: Hills.


Att: 12,131

QPR Man of the Match: Milanese - a solid home debut from the Italian. He has had one hell of a welcome to the club recently and his composed performance was one of the highlights of the evening. Hopefully his experience can rub off on some of the younger squad members.

Ref: C Penton - 7 - The best ref I have seen so far this season - and that's not to say we haven't seen some bad ones!! The game flowed well and he managed to keep his control of the game without getting silly with the cards. Well done that man.

Photo: Action Images

Queens Park Rangers Polls