It was anybody’s guess what side Gregory would plump for but as it was there weren’t too many surprises. Paul Jones was back in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Stewart, Rehman and Rose. Rowlands returned in midfield alongside bailey, Bircham and Cook with Blackstock back to partner Ray Jones up top. Simon Royce was back on the bench for the first time since getting crocked at the tail end of last season.

The opening exchanges were nervy with two sides that have struggled thus far not managing to put any pressure on their opponents. You had to wait almost fifteen minutes for the first chance of the game. Rowly and Cook had switched wings for a while and when the former cut in from the left Myhill had to be alert to turn the shot away for a corner.

At the other end the hulking figure of Jon Parkin was being surprisingly well dealt with by Rehman and Stewart. Much of Hull’s attacking intent revolved around the high ball to this behemoth but Rehman and Stewart in particular took a good number of headers off of him.

Both sides were struggling to work the keepers on a regular basis outside of gathering the odd cross. It was late in the half when Rangers mustered another shot on target and once again Rowlands was the man to do it. A freekick some thirty five yards out was touched off to Rowly and his low shot took a deflection off of the wall and was safely gathered by Myhill.

Half time saw a change for Rangers with Rose coming off and being replaced by Kanyuka. It later transpired that Rose was feeling unwell. Bignot shuffled across to left back, Rehman slotted in at right back and Kanyuka partnered Stewart. Big Pat was into the action from the off as he patrolled the back line slinging himself at any ball that came his way.

Hull fashioned their first shot on target shortly after the restart when Michael Turner rose highest to get his head to a Dawson corner. Jones saved well low to his left and minutes later Rangers made them pay by taking the lead.

A set piece paid off for Rangers as a ball was slung over to the back post and a gaggle of players jumped for it. It was hard to see who nodded it back across the face, it looked like Parkin to me, but the ball went over the head of Myhill and fell perfectly for Giant Ray to stoop in with a low header and bundle home.

The relief around the stadium was palpable and you sensed that Hull would have to pull up some trees if they wanted to win this one such was the paucity of chances thus far. Gregory freshened up the midfield soon after as he replaced Bailey and Bircham with Lomas and Ward. Danny Mills found himself in referee Deadman’s book for an ugly lunge on Cook. This meant that he was on tenterhooks now and Cook proceeded to terrorise him for the rest of the afternoon.

Blackstock should have done better when Cook picked him out with a great curling ball but he nodded over the top when well placed. Parkin then tried to score from long range but sent his shot horribly wide of the target. With ten minutes to go the £500k signing from Southampton registered his first goal at Loftus Road.

As has been the case so often this season, Cook was the supplier of a fabulous teasing cross that hung in the air and begged to be buried. Blackstock made no mistake this time as he rose and powered a fine header past Myhill to send Gregory running down the touchline like a demented Barry Fry impersonator!

There was definitely no way back for a poor Hull side now but despite this Paul Jones managed to find his way into the book for time wasting on a goal kick. Mills was lucky to escape a second yellow as he jumped into the crowd to fetch a ball back. If he had done this after scoring it would have been a booking, I don’t really see why this should be any different.

At the final whistle there was a sense of relief after so long without a win. We have now established a platform to build on and hopefully in the next few weeks we can quietly go about picking up some points and make sure we don’t get embroiled in the hurly burly of a relegation dogfight.

The change of leadership has come early enough to give us every chance of pulling away. Even after a couple of days training we seemed a lot more solid at the back. It was noticeable that the zonal system had been binned and not before time. When Kanyuka came on I thought we looked even more solid and he must be pressing for a start against Southampton next week.

The game as St. Mary’s will be tough and it is almost a case of going there with the intention of not getting smashed and seeing whether we can pinch something. There is no doubt that this win will have boosted the confidence but it doesn’t mean we should start being gung-ho. Let’s just keep things tight, get the team defending as a unit and things will eventually come right. Probably…

Man of the Match – Lee Cook. In the second half today I had a great view of the chasing that Cookie was giving to Danny Mills. The former England man is no mug but he was left for dead on more than one occasion. Great ball for the second goal too.

simon@qprnet.com