Rangers were held to a disappointing draw at home against rejuvenated Stockport County at Loftus Road. This was a game that was there for the taking and all three points should have been wrapped up long before referee Friend decided to ignore two blatant penalties that would have sealed the deal.

As usual Olly didn't have the luxury of being able to pick the same starting line up for two consecutive games. Camp started in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Palmer, Rose and Edghill. Rowlands was back in midfield and took his place on the left. Bean was back to partner Bircham and Ainsworth was handed the right wing berth. Gallen was moved back up front to team up with Furlong.

Rangers couldn't have started the game any better, hitting the front with barely three minutes on the clock. Picking the ball up on the left Martin Rowlands made his move into the box and cut inside his man before lashing the ball past the helpless Anthony Williams in the County goal. It was a brilliant start and Stockport were left shell shocked.

It could have been 2-0 with ten minutes gone when Matthew Rose went close to opening his account for the season. A corner was swung into the box and headed goalward by Steve Palmer and Rose got his head to the ball to force Williams into a flying save. In truth Rose should have buried this one as he can't have been any more than six yards from goal.

Rangers were forcing corner after corner and County were having trouble creating anything at the other end despite the best efforts of the mulleted Jon Daly. Both Ainsworth and Furlong headed corners from Rowlands over the bar when well placed. Rowlands was forced out of the game with a foot injury. He was clattered shortly after scoring the goal and took another knock minutes before the half time break. Kevin McLeod replaced him but was to make little impact on proceedings.

Stockport managed a scrappy equaliser with just under an hour played. Matthew Rose allegedly tangled with a County player on the edge of the box and was shown the yellow card by the incompetent Friend. There was a major doubt over whether Rosey had even touched the fella but that was just the beginning of the problems.

The freekick was smashed goalward and found its way past the wall but not past Steve Palmer stationed on the line, Palmer then managed to block another shot before centre half Robert Clare bundled the ball over the line to send the Stockport fans and players into a frenzy. Clare seemed to pick up a card for having the temerity to celebrate his goal, what a terrible offence that is but it was typical of referee Friend's lack of savvy during this match.

Paul Furlong almost restored the advantage with the very next attack of the game. A superb piece of skill on the edge of the area saw him drag the ball away from two Stockport defenders and crack a right footed shot that went straight down the throat of Williams.

Rangers should have been awarded a penalty when an effort from Furlong was palmed behind by a Stockport player. It was the second most blatant penalty never to be given at Loftus Road! Soon after, Kevin McLeod suffered the ignominy of being hauled off of the field having contributed less than half an hour. In truth he was simply appalling and to the untrained eye he looked as though he couldn't be arsed. It seems that the trained eye of Holloway thought mush the same thing and Macca skulked off up the tunnel and chose not to support his team mates for the rest of the game. Classy!

It was now time for the second of Friends myopic moments of madness when he once again failed to award what looked like a blatant penalty. With the ball flying around in the box Tony Thorpe looked set to knock home a late winner before the arm of Danny Adams' intervened. How Friend didn't see it is a mystery and he annoyed the hell out of everybody just a few seconds later when he penalised Furs for handball in the box himself. There is no point in banging on about how this decision could be costly as the simple fact is we should have been home and hosed long before the penalty appeals.

Cureton had replaced the knackered Ainsworth by now and he came close to scoring in as the game entered its death throws but his strong shot was held by Williams. The final whistle was the signal for a crescendo of boos aimed at the referee and not for once at the players. Yes they had failed to pick up the three points but they had tried their damndest but it simply wasn't to be which was a real shame given results elsewhere.

If we had won we could have gone to Plymouth with a chance of going back to the summit of the division, instead we go there looking to keep Bristol City at bay. This is a monumental game and one we cannot afford to lose, we will need to play a hell of a lot better than we did today to do it and we simply have to start taking a higher percentage of the chances we are creating. Let's get them fingers crossed!

simon@qprnet.com