After resting players against Northampton and being repaid with an awful performance Olly was duty bound to change things for this one. Royce was in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Shittu, Rose and Milanese. Ainsworth, Doherty, Bircham and surprisingly Miller lined up in midfield with Gallen and Furlong back together in attack.

The game started pretty brightly with both sides trying to shift the ball quickly and not shy of sticking a challenge in. The first real shot in anger didn’t come until the ten minute mark though when Gallen fired over after Ainsworth had burst through three challenges on his way into the box. At the other end former Liverpool youngster Ritchie Partridge cut inside Milanese before dribbling a shot well wide of Royce’s goal.

Rangers had what looked to be a good shout for a pen when Gallen tried to latch onto an Ainsworth cross. Drissa Diallo challenged the skipper and he seemed to have a massive handful of his shirt. Luckily he managed to do it on the blindside of referee Clive Penton. In truth the appeal wasn’t vociferous enough to make him think about it either!

Adam Miller was looking like a fish out of water on the left, much as he did on the right at Northampton. He doesn’t seem to have any upper body strength whatsoever and is incredibly easy to brush off the ball. He sent a weak shot wide of the Wednesday goal and got a right mouthful from The Doc as a result. This mouthful continued for a good five minutes as Tommy let him know exactly what he thought of the effort and the lack of a simple pass.

Doherty was pulling the strings like Gepetto in the middle of the park and he slipped a superbly weighted ball through to Gallen and the first goal seemed inevitable. The ball seemed there to strike first time but he took a touch and allowed John Hills to challenge and it was sufficient enough to mean the shot was weak and easily saved by Lucas.

At the other end of the park there was little for the Sheffield Wednesday strikers to feed on as the back four held their line and Shittu was heading anything that came near him. He was also showing a sure touch to link well with Rose who looked so much more comfortable in the middle.

On the left side Mauro Milanese seemed to be getting better as the game went on and probably should have opened his account for the R’s following a corner from Gallen. Ainsworth challenged for the ball and when it fell back to him his shot was blocked into the path of the big Italian. It fell on his right foot and he snatched at the chance and could only send it well wide of the target.

Ainsworth came closest to opening the scoring with one of his specials following a brilliant cross from Gallen. He measured a fierce volley that seemed destined for the top corner until Lucas intervened and tipped it round the post. Soon after Furlong got on the end of an Ainsworth cross but could only head over the bar when well placed at the far post.

The Owls were being ravaged by injury and by the fifty minute mark they had been forced to use all three subs. Whelan, Peacock and Diallo had all been replaced, the latter leaving the field on a stretcher. Whilst this disrupted the away side, Rangers continued to look for the opening goal. After a foul on Ainsworth, for which Hills was rightly booked, Furlong had a freekick blocked by the wall and it trickled harmlessly to Lucas.

Holloway replaced Miller with Moore in a change that will have shocked nobody. I am not quite sure why Miller was picked ahead of Aaron Brown for this one but he was once again ineffectual. Moore injected some pace into what must have been one of the slowest Rangers sides in recent times.

Wednesday sub Chris Brunt almost created a goal for Wednesday when he ran onto a pass from O’Brien before zipping a fierce cross into the six yard box. David Graham, recently signed from Wigan, attacked the ball at the near post but couldn’t get the purchase he needed to deflect it on target. Adam Proudlock, owner of the worst hair this side of Marcus Bignot, almost got in when Shittu made his only mistake of a towering performance. He tried to shield a ball back to Royce rather than clear it and Proudlock nipped in. Royce had to execute a rather clumsy looking sliding tackle to win the ball back before he smothered it.

Furlong had two great chances two open the scoring with his head. First he sent a weak header at Lucas following a cross from Bignot and then Doherty picked him out with a searching pass and he got far too much power on the header and it ended up nearer the corner flag. At the other end Craig Rocastle, nephew of the late David, cracked a shot at goal that was easily fielded by Royce.

With a little under fifteen minutes left Wednesday were reduced to ten men with the sending off of Hills. He and Ainsworth ran to challenge for a high ball near halfway and the R’s winger got their first. As he turned Hills went through him like a dose of salts and left referee Penton with very little option but to send him off. To be fair he didn’t contest the decision, nor did Sturrock who had a great view of the incident.

Rose had a mad moment when he tried to head a ball that must have been at least six inches off the ground! It went straight to Burton O’Brien and his fierce volley was brilliantly saved by Royce low down to his left. At the other end Tommy Doherty almost scored with a piledriver that was just too close to Lucas. David Graham tried his luck from forty yards but cleared Royce’s bar with the keeper never worried that it might drop in.

With the game now in injury time Rangers almost snatched a dramatic late winner. Rangers won a freekick on the right wing and Doherty stood over it spotted Gallen unmarked. He slipped a delicate ball between defenders and Gallen turned and shot and Lucas saved well. He couldn’t hold the ball though and Furlong swooped in only to be crowded out by three Owls defenders.

At the whistle Sturrock would have been far more pleased with this point than most inside Loftus Road. He had sent his team out for a point and they had done the job for him. In truth they had been on the end of a 0-0 battering with Rangers racking up some fifteen attempts at goal, unfortunately the percentage on target was not good enough.

There were some very good displays though. Royce was commanding and the whole back four played very well as a unit. Milanese is getting better and better and when he is 100% match fit he will be a joy to watch. Doherty was brilliant in the first half, not so in the second and Ainsworth was a menace all evening. He does need to try and get some better quality on his final ball although he was far better in this game than normal. Up top Furlong worked hard but looks like he can’t buy a goal at the moment. He and Gallen are to one paced and I think when Sturridge is fit, and if he can remain that way, he will be partnering one of them.

Wolves away on Tuesday night now awaits and as Olly has already said, we need to learn from how Wednesday played and go up there and make sure we don’t get beaten. It might even be nice to score a goal away from home!

simon@qprnet.com