QPR made it three games unbeaten with a draw at Preston North End on Tuesday night.

As another ball was aimlessly hoofed down the field, and another free kick was awarded, and the ball was returned down the field, and another free kick was awarded, I wondered just why we do it to ourselves? What possible pleasure is there in this?

We follow a team in a league run by people who think it is acceptable to have people travelling from London to Plymouth on Boxing Day and London to Preston on a Tuesday night and we still go along with it, still traipse the length and breadth of the country. A league that continues to employ terminally incompetent officials with not only no comeback for their abysmal mistakes but, in some cases, promotion and reward for them.

We arrive at a ground to find that the same seat we would have been sitting in had we bought our tickets on Monday is now five pounds more expensive because it's Tuesday. Preston did in the end see sense and allow some people in at the advertsied price. But we'd have found some cash regardless, we find a way, and we click through the turnstile like demented lemmings following signs to a gas chamber.

Once inside we say nothing when ten QPR fans are told off for standing up not fifty feet away from 700 Preston fans doing the same thing. We just shrug and accept it when one thug in an orange steward's jacket grabs a young lad in a headlock and wrestles him to the ground before throwing him out on the street all for the heinous crime of standing up at a football match. That lad paid £25 to be there last night, travelled all that way, in the ground for two minutes and in that time he was assaulted and then tossed out into the car park with no refund.

We cheer and clap hopefully and try to encourage our players as they join forces with Preston to serve up one of the worst football matches you could ever wish to see as our reward for making the journey and we stand and shake our heads but little more as a referee who has shown on several hundred occasions to be incapable of completing the job he's there to do annihilates the game with a blast on the whistle every fifteen seconds, ably assisted by a linesman turning in one of the most one eyed displays of officiating I've ever seen.

And we get back in at 2am. Cold, poor and fed up and looking forward to going to work again in four hours. And we'll be back on Saturday.

What does a guy have to do to get sectioned around here?

The stewarding will be covered again in an awayday review later this week because I really am furious about how the fans were treated by this gang of hired muscle who were a disgrace to Preston North End. For now we'll stick to the match, if you can call it that, and if you weren't there then congratulations you lucky things.

Mick Harford, in what is said to be his last game as caretaker manager, kept faith with the same team from the Ipswich match. That meant a back four of Mancienne, Cranie, Stewart and Barker in front of Camp and if there is a positive to take from a dire night at Deepdale it's the continued improvement of this unit since Harford took over. Three games without defeat and only one goal conceded in that time - we're certainly getting there at one end of the pitch.

In midfield Bolder and Leigertwood started in the middle with Ainsworth and Rowlands wide. Ephraim played off Vine up front.

Preston left Darren Carter out altogether and recalled St Ledger and Agyemang after a draw at Sheff Utd on Saturday. They crafted the first chance of the game with former Carlisle striker Karl Hawley heading a chance across the face of goal and just out of Youl Mawene's reach at the back post. At the other end Rangers worked overlaps well down the right flank three times but failed to make them pay - twice the moves just petered out, once Ainsworth sent a low cross fizzing right across the face of the goal.

As usual in a game refereed by Trevor Kettle play was interrupted several times a minute by his whistle. QPR were on the receiving end in the opening 20 minutes, conceding a succession of free kicks around their own penalty area. Callum Davidson's inswinger which missed everybody and bounced wide of the far post by about half a yard was as close as they came to making the chances pay. Davidson tried to finish a cross himself in open play after 20 minutes but headed onto the roof of the net. Billy Jones went closer still when he was left unmarked to finish the move of the match from ten yards out, his header beat Camp but missed the post by a whisker.

Rangers were lucky not to be at least a goal down by this stage but Martin Cranie was again impressing, Chris Barker and Michael Mancienne had improved since Saturday and Damion Stewart was winning a lot of ball in the air which was enough to keep the scores level. Sadly Adam Bolder was having a very poor game in midfield leaving Leigertwood to do the work of two players, Ainsworth wasn't having a great game down the right, nor Rowlands down the left, and Vine and Ephraim just couldn't make the ball stick up front. That meant Preston were continuously coming back at us however well the defence played. That and the terribly fussy refereeing kept the heat on for most of the first half.

The key moment of the match arrived on the half hour. Martin Cranie was penalised for handball in his own box as the ball bounced up and struck his hand close to the byline. Referee Kettle waved his arms in a clear sign that he didn't believe the handball was deliberate but as the ball was cleared away the linesman, Mr Nolan, took it upon himself to put his flag in the air and gingerly signal that he thought an infringement had taken place. Kettle eventually pointed to the spot.

Personally I thought it was a penalty, although talking to people at half time I was in a minority of one, and we'd been lucky a moment before when Mancienne seemed to handle one in the area to me that the referee had missed. However if Kettle had seen the incident and decided it was accidental and waved it away why did he then come back and award it on the advice of the linesman? It struck me that this penalty was awarded because the referee didn't want to make his officiating team look bloody stupid rather than because he thought it was a spot kick.

QPR fans and substitutes alike raced to the corner flag to berate the linesman for his decision and this set up the following hour of football where he was quite frankly unprofessional - giving a series of bizarre, unexplainable free kicks in Preston's favour and getting both Bolder and Vine booked for dissent. He wouldn't even flag for QPR throws when the ball went out of play, twice he told Kettle to play on when the ball crossed the line so far Mick Harford nearly got a touch. His flag only went one way from that moment on.

The kick was taken by Gallagher and he didn't look overly happy with that right from the moment he placed the ball on the spot. Preston have already missed two penalties this season and Lee Camp made that three with a good save down low to his right. The keeper kept hold of the ball to prevent any rebounds being knocked in as well. Just three days since I wrote in a match report about just what a fantastic signing Camp is turning out to be and he was at it again - and things only got better for him from then on.

Camp's one error of the night came just after the break. Chris Sedgwick, easily one of the slowest wingers we'll face all season which may explain the improved performance from Barker, slung a cross over from the right which was allowed to squirm away into the six yard box by Camp - Mancienne arrived right on cue to hack the ball clear. From then on it was a near perfect display from the QPR keeper.

The same could not be said of Lonergan in the Preston goal who at times had the look of an escaped patient from a secure unit of some sorts. Time after time after time he'd come tearing off his line for a routine cross, bat it down with one hand or fumble it with two, gather the ball at the fourth or fifth attempt and then race around his area berating the defenders in front of him for his mistake. He didn't make a clean catch all night but QPR just didn't put enough pressure on him to make it pay. The closest we came was just before the break when he again flapped around hopelessly under a corner gifting Rangers a goal that was open but for Youl Mawene back on the line. Bolder headed the ball towards the gaping net as best he could but St Ledger hoofed it away before Ainsworth could convert the chance.

In the first half it was free kicks causing Rangers problems, at the start of the second half it was corners. Jones and Mawene narrowly failed to bundle the ball home from one scramble, and then Jones again met a set piece but saw his effort deflect onto the top of the cross bar and out. Mawene and Hawley both had efforts go wide when they should have scored and this was the cue for Harford to make changes. Off went the unusually anonymous Ainsworth to be replaced by Nygaard with Ephraim switching to the right wing.

This substitution improved Rangers' attacking play immeasurably. Suddenly there was some decent passing taking place down the right flank with Ephraim and Vine combining as they did against Norwich and Colchester. Leigertwood took over the midfield and Nygaard added some much needed presence to the attack. The only problem was Preston had Matt Hill at left back and he was more than a match for Ephraim who struggled to get past him once. When he did, after a neat combination of passes with Vine, he hit a good shot with the outside of his right foot which Lonergan flung himself right to keep out with two hands. It's a shame we didn't sign Matt Hill when he left Bristol City, left back has been an issue since the crazy decision to release Gino and Hill has proved to be a very steady player up at Deepdale in the meantime.

On the hour Preston had their second golden chance of the evening to take the lead. Nicholls finally sprung the offside trap, superbly marshalled by Martin Cranie to this point, and suddenly Hawley was through on goal, all by himself on the edge of the area. He seemed to dally on the chance a little, allowing Camp to race out and confront him, but still got a lob away which cleared the cross bar. That was Hawley's last action of the game as he, and the disinterested looking Paul Gallagher, were both taken off and replaced by Simon Whaley and Brett Ormerod. Whaley nearly announced his arrival in the grand manor with a crisp volley from ten yards out that flew straight at Camp but still needed saving down by the keeper's feet.

The best save was yet to come though. Sean St Ledger must have thought he'd won the game for Preston 12 minutes from time when he firmly met Kevin Nicholl's free kick and guided the ball towards the top corner from eight yards out. Camp flung himself up and tipped the ball over the bar one handed - a save every bit as good as the one that denied Danny Haynes at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Preston had enough chances to win the game, but once or twice late on Rangers broke down field and could easily have snatched it. First Leigertwood burst through a tackle in midfield and made it to the edge of the box in a three on three situation. His shot was terrible though, he may actually have been trying to pass it to Vine, but he hit Mawene and it's a good job really - it would have hit the corner flag otherwise. Then Nygaard broke through in similar circumstances but was crowded out on the edge of the area and when Chris Barker made it to the byline he managed to stand the cross up too high and over everybody in the penalty area. The introduction of Nygaard gave us added impetus up front and brought us into the game but in the end the only real test of an obviously dodgy goalkeeper was Ephraim's shot.

Overall there are positives to take from this. Three games with just one goal, and a blinding goal at that, conceded is very good going considering how defensively awful we were at Colchester and West Brom. Obviously the introduction of Cranie has helped with that but Mick Harford deserves credit. Mikele Leigertwood is settling into the middle of midfield really well now and must be one of the first names on the team sheet - sadly the other three midfield players around him last night were not good with Bolder and Ainsworth turning in their worst performances of the season and Rowlands quiet as well.

Up front Vine worked hard but only really came into the game when he had Nygaard with him. Similarly Ephraim got no joy as a second striker but saw more of the ball wide on the right, had he been playing against a less talented full back than Hill then that switch may well have won us the game.

A point won then, and one I would have taken before kick off, but sadly I was just left with a really low feeling after the match about the whole thing. The quality of the game, the standard of the officiating, the way the hardy QPR fans were treated by their hosts - the whole thing was just a lousy experience for the travelling QPR fans and I only had to cover half the distance of most of them. Well done to all the players for making a real effort, well done to the defence and to Harford for tightening things up, well done to Campy for some more flying form and well done to the QPR fans that did travel - if it's any consolation we have in the last three games managed to find two other teams at least as bad if not worse than ourselves.

Preston: Lonergan 4, Jones 8, St. Ledger 7, Mawene 7, Hill 8, Sedgwick 5 (Mellor 82, -), Davidson 6, Nicholls 7,Gallagher 5 (Whaley 67, 7), Hawley 6 (Ormerod 69, 6), Agyemang 6
Subs Not Used: Chris Neal, McKenna
Booked: Davidson (foul), Mawene (foul).

QPR: Camp 9, Mancienne 7, Stewart 7, Cranie 8, Barker 7, Ainsworth 5 (Nygaard 57, 7) Bolder 4, Leigertwood 7, Rowlands 5, Ephraim 6, Vine 6
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Moore, Sahar
Booked: Mancienne (foul) Bolder (dissent) Vine (dissent) Rowlands (dissent) Stewart (tackle from behind)

QPR Star Man - Lee Camp 9 - One mistake at the start of the second half apart he was almost faultless in this game. Three great saves in open play, and a penalty save, to keep us in the game, commanded his area well. Continues to win us points we would lose with a lesser keeper. Great signing.

Referee Trevor Kettle (Rutland) 3 - Neutral fans may as well not bother going to games when this guy is in charge. If you could bring together eleven of the greatest Brazilian players of all time in their prime and eleven of the greatest Argentinean players of all time in their prime he would still turn a game between the two into a stop start load of old rubbish and bore the tits off you. The whistle is never out of his mouth. Everything is a foul. Every aerial challenge between two players trying to win a header is a foul. Every coming together on the ground is a foul. Every shoulder push is a foul. Every piece of physical contact is a foul. Every foul is a card - seven yellow cards in this one and really only Mawene and Stewart deserved them. Seven yellow cards in a game with two fouls. Whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle until you just can't stand it any more. To make matters worse still he was assisted by an abysmal linesman who gave some quite perplexing decisions in favour of Preston on the night. I hate this referee simply because I know however much I've paid to get in will be a waste. If he'd been in charge of Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 it would have finished 0-0.

Attendance: 11,407 (500 QPR fans approx) Hard to create atmosphere in a three sided ground and not really enough QPR fans there to get a great deal of noise going but those that did travel gave it their bet shot and were a credit to the club. Preston fans were remarkably patient with their team until the last ten minutes when they began to boo and jeer their side.

Photo: Action Images

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