Waddock made four changes to the team that was so pathetic at Colchester on Saturday, vice, vice Captain, Matthew Rose, new signing Zesh Rehman and youngsters Shabazz Baidoo and Ray Jones were all consigned to the bench for the this one as Waddo looked to shake things up a little.

Pat Kanyuka came into the back four to make his first start of the season after picking up splinters so far this campaign. Marcus Bignot was pulled out of the trash can he had been consigned to and started at right back. Stefan Bailey made a return to midfield and Nick Ward was moved wide to accommodate him as Waddo continued his experiment to find the most ineffective right winger possible. Finally Adam Czerkas came in to partner Marc Nygaard up front.

The rest of the team remained unchanged with Jake Cole continuing to fill in for the sick Paul Jones, Damion Stewart and Mauro Milanese completed the defence whilst Lee Cook and our new vice, vice, vice Captain Marc Bircham lined up in midfield.

Despite the gap in class between the two teams it was Rangers who would shock the watching public by audaciously taking the lead. Marc Nygaard managed to uproot himself for the first time this season, much to the surprise of Vale ‘keeper Mark Goodlad who was so shocked to see the big tree moving towards him he fluffed his clearance leaving Nygaard the chance to give Rangers the lead.

One nil up after nine minutes then and perhaps the pre-match panic amongst R’s fans was unjustified, not a bit of it! The Hoops then set out self destructing as only we can.

Ten minutes after the opener and the home side were level, Danny Whitaker’s cross from the right was nodded on by the latest of the Sodje footballing dynasty, Akpo Sodje, and Jeff Smith, who had got in behind Bignot, fired in a decent half volley past the helpless Jake Cole to make it one a piece.

As has so often been the case after conceding this season, instead of rallying, Rangers just began to fall apart. Smith was now tormenting Biggy down the left and the goalscorer became provider just before the half hour mark.

His cross found Leon Constantine, whose header came back off the post, the ball rolled along the goal mouth and Constantine was beaten to the tap in by Danny Whitaker to make it 2-1.

Nygaard blew a glorious chance to level things up just before the break, he found himself clear of the Vale defence and declared onside but with just the ‘keeper between him and the goal the only thing he managed to hit was the top of the Bycars End Stand. A minute later, and only seconds before half time, he was taken off to be replaced by Giant Ray Jones. 

Rangers went into the dressing room 2-1 down and Gary Waddock might as well have played a tape recording of most of his half time team talks this season for all the good it would do. The R’s boss also made a further change during the break with Mauro Milanese removed and Matthew Rose slotting in at left back.

It took another goal to finally get some sort of reaction from the Rangers players as Vale raced into a 3-1 lead on the hour mark. Jake Cole made a decent save from Constantine to concede the corner and from the resulting kick Richard Walker rose unmarked to give the home side a two goal advantage.

The last twenty minutes saw the introduction of Shabazz Baidoo down the right in place of Nick Ward and things began to click a little better for The R’s from here on in. Five minutes after his introduction we found a way back into the game, Damion Stewart got on the end of a Lee Cook free kick to knock in his first QPR goal and make it 3-2.

From here on Rangers tried in vain to find an equaliser but, as has so often been the case this season, despite dominating the possession couldn’t find a real cutting edge and time ran out in a game that we only tried to win once it was too late – again.

So that’s the League Cup over with for another season but really the concerns run much deeper. Gary Waddock can see the problems, we can see the problems and I assume the players know what the problems are but nothing seems to be done about it.

It doesn’t matter who plays where at the moment, we are a shambles at the back, have no bite in midfield and despite spells of possession look incredibly light weight upfront. The frustrating thing is whilst we’ll never set the division alight the squad we have certainly isn’t this untalented. Something, somewhere is very badly wrong, whether it stems from the manager, the boardroom, the dressing room or a combination of all three remains to be seen but it needs sorting and it needs to happen immediately.

We now go into a game against Hull which should be fairly meaningless but has become a crunch fixture even at this early stage of the season. When you go into games against fellow relegation candidates knowing that you will concede and knowing that you will struggle to score what hope can you have for the game, and what hope can you have for the season as a whole?

Things can only get better? The only way is up? I don’t think so, we’ve had the same problems all season, nothing has changed. We’ve heard the same criticisms from the manager, nothing has changed. Something somewhere needs to change for things to click in gear.

And it needs to change now.

simon@qprnet.com