Rangers limped to a pathetic three one defeat at relegation haunted Plymouth on Saturday.

When you think of the qualities of an Ian Holloway team things like work rate, commitment, effort, desire and directness spring to mind. A side that plays for the badge on their chest like their lives depends on it whatever the score, however desperate the situation.

When you think of a Tony Pulis side boring, lifeless nil nil draws are the order of the day. Poor discipline, terrible long ball football, everybody behind the ball, if we draw all 46 games we'll probably stay up kind of attitude.

On Saturday we were treated to a total role reversal. At Home Park it was Ian Holloway's QPR boring the pants off a sparse thirteen thousand crowd. Aimless long hoofs to nobody, kicking the ball into the channels and playing for throw ins, allowing their heads to drop and showing all the discipline of a prison select X1. Nine bookings and countless skirmishes another reason, as if we needed one, to blush with embarrassment during this latest debacle.

Plymouth on the other hand looked a changed outfit from the one that drew at Loftus Road. They wanted this game so much more than QPR, every tackle was executed as if it were the most important challenge ever made, they looked quick, they looked hungry, they sure as hell didn't look like relegation fodder here, and they cut QPR to shreds with frightening ease.

Few teams embody the southern softies tag better than QPR; when the going gets tough, QPR fall to pieces. Coventry, Northampton, Wolves and Crystal Palace have all thumped Rangers already this season when a little more commitment to the cause could have earned a narrower defeat, or even a draw. QPR are second only to the French army in their keenness to raise a white surrender flag.

Holloway will no doubt point to a lengthy injury list but at the start of play he fielded his first choice defence of Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Evatt and Dyer. At times they put up minimal resistance; mostly they couldn't even be bothered to do that.

In midfield the majority of the message board tacticians got their way. Gone were the two destroyers in midfield, replaced once more by Doherty and Langley. Rowlands wasn't fit enough to start so Ainsworth was wide on the right, Cook wide on the left. Up front Olly went with Gallen and the much maligned Georges Santos.

QPR started reasonably enough, stringing a couple of moves together, working the ball into the wide areas and both Cook and Ainsworth slung inviting crosses into the penalty area in the opening moments but the soft underbelly of a team missing Bircham and Lomas was about to be sliced open.

Akos Buzsaky had passed his fitness test (shock horror) and his first contribution of the afternoon was a lovely pass in behind a static Rangers back line which David Norris raced onto. With Shittu and Evatt closing in from behind Norris tried to round Simon Royce and made a bit of a hash of it, poking the ball well wide of the goal. Royce though decided he was going to hack him down anyway and clattered into the midfielder with a crude lunge. Referee Steve Tanner had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, it was hardly a difficult decision.

Royce hurt himself in the collision and remained on the ground for several minutes while Prav tended to him. With our only other keeper Jake Cole just taking seat to my right in the away end it was a nervy few minutes while Royce was patched up. Tanner decided to book Royce, rightly, as Norris was heading well away from the goal when he was felled. Still a lucky escape on two counts for the visitors.

Unfortunately for Royce and QPR the coolest person in the ground was Plymouth's Paul Wotton. He'd had a good three minutes to think about his penalty while Royce was down and Langley did his best to delay the kick still further, which normally increases the chances of the player bottling it and missing. Wotton though probably could have stood there all day waiting to take the kick and still scored such was his confidence, he blasted a powerful spot kick to Royce's right and though the keeper got two hands on it he could only palm it into the roof of the net.

Rangers response was to almost concede a second but Tony Capaldi's header was saved. At the other end Georges Santos was pulled up twice in quick succession for offside and then booked for kicking the ball away in a show of dissent to the linesman and referee. Already QPR's prospects of taking anything from the game looked bleak.

Rangers' first chance of the game fell to Kevin Gallen after ten minutes. His glancing near post header was cleared from the goal line by Buzsacky at the back post.

Plymouth looked the more threatening throughout the first half though and after Buzsacky hammered a long ranger over the bar Nick Chadwick was able to cut through the defence again and only a terrific save one on one with his legs from Royce prevented the Pilgrims doubling their lead.

To now Ian Holloway and his coaching staff had been motionless in the dug out, simply watching on as their team were destroyed by the second worst side in the league at the start of play, but they were infuriated in the twenty fourth minute by a call from the assistant referee.

Last time we visited these parts the football league had been kind enough to provide linesman from Devon and Cornwall for the game and while they hadn't been so stupid as to do the same again appointing a referee from, of all the places in England, Somerset stuck in the throat somewhat. Between them they made a bad error of judgement when Richard Langley threaded a ball through the home defence. Georges Santos was, once again, standing offside but never ventured near the ball which instead ran through to the blatantly onside Lee Cook.

Evidently the new offside rules haven't reached this remote footballing outpost yet and the flag went straight up with no questions asked by Tanner.

In truth a Cook equaliser would have been harsh on the home side and normal service was resumed after the half hour when a trademark free kick from Buzsacky had to be wonderfully tipped over the bar by Royce at full stretch.

It was only a matter of time before the second went in, Rangers never once looked capable of holding out until half time, and so it proved. With thirty seven minutes played a Buzsacky corner was nodded down in the six yard box by Wotton and after some frankly pathetic half attempts at clearances by the Rangers defence centre half Doumbe was able to hook the ball into the top corner under little pressure.

The frustration was growing among those in Hoops. Kevin Gallen executed an appalling over the ball tackle on Hasney Aljofree five minutes before the break for which he was lucky to only be booked.

There was still time for two more cards for QPR players, Lloyd Dyer was incredibly badly done to, Lee Cook less so. Dyer sprinted down the touchline neck and neck with Chadwick in a race for the ball which finally came to a head by the dug outs. The two players went shoulder to shoulder and Chadwick theatrically threw himself to the floor. The free kick was immediately awarded to Plymouth and Dyer booked, though quite how a big powerful lad like Chadwick can be sent crashing to earth by the physical presence of Lloyd Dyer (5'6 and 6 stone soaking wet) is a little confusing. Heaven knows what would happen to Chadwick should a Taggert or a Shittu line him up for some treatment, the poor boy would probably break in two.

Tanner was battling gamely trying to keep a lid on things and was probably hoping he'd get into his dressing rooms with no further incident, not a chance - Ian Evatt was left in a crumpled heap on the gravel track by David Norris. Evatt had been battered and bruised all half by Evans in the Plymouth attack but, in the same way as Chadwick shouldn't really be felled by Dyer in a physical contest, Norris v Evatt is a one sided encounter and the former Chesterfield centre half definitely turned in an Oscar winning performance to get his opponent booked. It was certainly no surprise that Evatt returned to the field unscathed and moving freely after minimal treatment once the card had been shown.

Shame on both Evatt and Chadwick.

While all this was going on Lee Cook came across the pitch to tell Norris exactly what he thought of him and after a quick handbag swinging session the Rangers man was booked.

The half time whistle, when it finally came at nine minutes to four, was a chance for the 1500 hardy souls who'd journeyed down to watch a shambolic Rangers performance so far to voice their disgust.

Rangers had been distinctly second best. They'd won next to nothing in attack and every time the ball dropped from a challenge or a misplaced header it was a green shirt there to pick up possession. Plymouth's well drilled offside trap was in stark contrast to the shamozzal of blue and white hoops at the other end. Time and time and time again QPR retrieved possession only to give it away within two passes, Richard Langley had been particularly guilty of this in the first period, and Lloyd Dyer had obviously been targeted by Pulis who's team caught the loaned WBA man out five or six times in the first forty five minutes with cross field balls over his head. Oh for the experience and positional sense of Milanese.

Heart breakingly though Holloway saw nothing to suggest that a change was needed at half time and the same eleven hapless individuals emerged from the tunnel for the second half. This didn't last long though, Tommy Doherty had obviously come out to try and run off a first half knock and when he failed to do so Martin Rowlands made his long awaited come back from the bench.

Rowlands' first contribution to the cause was a foul on Capaldi, wide on the Plymouth left. Buzsacky trotted across and delivered a delicious right footed, inswinging cross which found Chadwick all alone and unmarked six yards from goal and the task of guiding the ball into the far corner with his head was a simple one. In the first half Kevin Gallen had been marking Chadwick from set pieces which, with Shittu, Santos and Evatt around seemed bizarre. Fortunately Rangers had done away with this tactic for the second half and decided not to bother marking him with anybody in the second half, cracking idea.

Pulis took pity on his long time friend Ian Holloway and removed Buzsacky shortly afterwards before he humiliated Rangers any more. Holloway made a couple of changes of his own. Baidoo replaced Santos in attack and Bean came into the midfield for Langley. It seemed strange that having turned down the chance to introduce Bean as the holding midfielder when Doherty went off at 2-0 down, we were now introducing a defensive player at 3-0 but Holloway always has been a difficult man to call.

With Baidoo upfront suddenly Rangers stated to look something like a football team. The young forward worked his nuts off up top right from the word go and was quickly rewarded. A tremendous left footed corner from Lee Cook was guided into the danger area by Evatt and Baidoo forced the ball home from close range.

Fans have been calling for increased involvement from the only form striker at the club for weeks and within three minutes of appearing he'd vindicated their pleas. It was a poacher's goal, scored by a striker high on confidence. Stefan Moore's lack of self belief and terrible luck probably would have seen him flagged offside, or in a different position altogether had the chance fallen his way. The teeth grindingly frustrating embarrassment that is Dean Sturridge probably would have snapped his hamstring in putting the ball over the bar, Furlong probably would have missed, Nygaard who knows. Baidoo scored, and for the next half an hour was a breath of fresh air.

His team mates gave him absolutely rock all, no balls to feet, nothing cut back from the byline, nothing slipped through the Plymouth defence, just aimless long balls that got higher, harder and less accurate as the afternoon turned into a dark night on the south coast. Yet Baidoo didn't wander round in a huff, waving his arms around complaining (Gallen take note), he didn't pull up injured (Sturridge take note), he didn't just not bother challenging for it at all (Moore take note), he jumped for every header, put his foot in hard for every tackle, ran at the defence, kept the ball, had shots on the goal, fed team mates with intelligent passes - this eighteen year old boy was showing the so called senior pros at Rangers just what you can do with a little bit of application and effort.

His goal sparked Rangers only ten minutes of the decent pressure in the whole match. For a while Rowlands ran the midfield, feeding good balls to Gallen's feet and Kev turned them out to the wide areas for Cook and Ainsworth. It was how our team should play and it produced two chances in as many minutes. On sixty five Gallen saw a looping header from Ainsworth's cross tipped over the bar by Larrieu in the Plymouth goal and a short while later Lloyd Dyer sent a twenty yard volley dipping just wide.

But the pressure soon petered out, the home crowd had quietened for the first time on the day by the goal but shed their nerves and began to sing again, the home side regained their foothold in the game and Rangers retuned to the useless tactic of pumping high balls to Baidoo and Gallen. Meanwhile Steve Tanner was sadly forced into dishing out more cards as Rangers' discipline fell apart once more.

David Norris had obviously done or said something in the first half because after Cook's outburst and subsequent booking just before half time, Gareth Ainsworth decided to stick the boot in on the Plymouth man with all six studs showing. Again another referee may have seen fit to send Ainsworth off. Before the end of the game Danny Shittu also had a hack at Norris and received his fifth booking at the season and Martin Rowlands escaped without punishment when he referee missed his petulant David Beckham style kick out at the same player.

Paul Connolly objected to Baidoo's all action style and both players were carded after squaring up to each other though that seemed a little harsh.

Nick Chadwick and Paul Wotton both missed the target with efforts before Chadwick, a thorn in Rangers' side all afternoon, was replaced by former Blackpool striker Scott Taylor.

In stoppage time Gareth Ainsworth had one of his famous volleys kept out by Larrieu but with Marcus Bean also finding his way into the book for tripping Capaldi the game petered out into a dull, petulant card fest.

All in all another poor day to be a QPR supporter. Shabazz Baidoo apart the team showed hunger only for cards and picked up nine in total which will result in a fine. Normally you'll find me picking on referees for being card happy but for me only Dyer and Baidoo had cases against theirs while Ainsworth and Gallen were lucky to stay on the pitch at all after challenges that were, at best, crude.

The style and standard of the "football" Rangers played on the day was cringeworthy. With Santos up front I can just about understand the odd long ball, but once he'd gone off and Baidoo had been introduced the long balls got longer, and more frequent, the poor kid had nothing to go on and still did more than anybody else on the pitch for QPR.

The midfield were spectators for much of the game. Richard Langley, after such a terrific game against Reading last time out, conceded possession far too often and tackled like he was worried about getting his socks dirty. Doherty produced his worst game for the club so far alongside him. The result was that every time the ball dropped, it dropped to a Plymouth shirt. The first time Rangers picked up the second ball more than once was five minutes from the end when both Rowlands and Bean snapped into fifty fifty challenges successfully and this resulted in an effort on goal from Gallen.

In defence Marcus Bignot's distribution looked something similar to me golf game at the moment, just with less time spent thrashing around in undergrowth, Danny Shittu was bullied by Evans throughout and had a poor game and Lloyd Dyer finally showed that really he isn't a left back, constantly drawn inside and pulled out of position by a Plymouth side who'd obviously targeted his weaknesses. The one shining light back there was Evatt who despite being regularly outpaced by Chadwick made some crucial tackles, blocks and clearances. He also set up the goal.

Onwards now to Preston on Tuesday and Hull next weekend. Two teams who've had tough seasons to date and who we really need to be taking points off, four should be a minimum requirement to end this run of three straight defeats. Hopefully Nygaard will be back to add some much needed ability to the forward line and after yesterday's showing and the continued dross form of Moore and Sturridge there is no reason why Shabazz Baidoo shouldn't be playing a major part in both games, if not stating them.

Don't hold your breath.

Teams
Plymouth: Larrieu 7, Connolly 7, Doumbe 8, Aljofree 7, Barness 5, Buzsaky 9 (Lasley 54, 7), Wotton 8, Norris 8, Capaldi 8, Evans 8 (Derbyshire 90, -), Chadwick 8 (Taylor 80, 7).
Subs Not Used: McCormick, Djordjic.
Booked: Norris, Chadwick, Connolly.
Goals: Wotton 7 pen, Doumbe 37, Chadwick 51.

QPR: Royce 5, Bignot 5, Evatt 7, Shittu 5, Dyer 5, Cook 6, Ainsworth 6, Doherty 4 (Rowlands 49, 6), Langley 4 (Baidoo 57, 8), Gallen 7, Santos 5 (Bean 57, 6).
Subs Not Used: Milanese, Moore.
Booked: Royce, Santos, Gallen, Dyer, Cook, Ainsworth, Baidoo, Shittu, Bean. :-(
Goals: Baidoo 61.

Att: 13,213

Ref: S Tanner (Somerset) 6 - Missed the constant elbowing on anybody within striking distance by Evans and harshly carded Dyer, Baidoo and Connolly, but rarely for a game with twelve cards in it there isn't much criticism you can throw his way. Got the penalty decision right, most of the cards were the correct decision and he actually did very well to keep hold of a game that threatened to boil over on numerous occasions. Not helped by QPR's discipline which was, at times, deplorable.

QPR Star Man - Shabazz Baidoo - 8 - Only on for half an hour but did more in that time than Moore and Sturridge have managed collectively since August. His poacher's style goal will give him a real lift and his performance should secure at least another half an hour as a sub on Tuesday night. He might turn out to be rubbish, he's certainly not going to save our season by himself and big expectations of him could be damaging, as could any abuse he gets when things go wrong, but he's shown enough today to suggest he's a better option than most of the other "strikers" we currently have on our books.

Photo: Action Images

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