QPR and Sheffield Wednesday fought out a 0-0 draw at Loftus Road on Saturday but that doesn't even begin to tell the story.

Two seasons ago Sheffield Wednesday came to Loftus Road and drew 0-0 on a Friday night in front of twelve thousand people. It was one of those games that could only hold your attention for seconds at a time - two teams essentially made up of League One players playing very poor hoof and hope football in front of fans wondering why they pay their money every week.

The same two clubs fought out another goalless draw on the same ground on Saturday, but the comparisons really do end there. This was a fantastic game, a credit to both teams and the division they play in. Both sides came to play good football and there were some excellent passing moves played at high pace and some great chances created. Only the woodwork and two goalkeepers who competed for the same jersey at Derby for so long kept the score level. There were three thousand more people in the ground than last time as well, and they were all royally entertained.

Two seasons ago you felt like breaking back into the ground afterwards to try and retrieve your money from one of the tills, this one will have people jamming the box office hotline credit and debit cards in hand trying to get tickets to see some more.

QPR, new signing Bob Malcolm apart, were excellent. After a nervy opening when Wednesday were unlucky not to take the lead on several occasions they settled to their task well and deserved all three points. Damion Stewart, Mikele Leigertwood and the returning Dexter Blackstock were all on top of their games and formed a formidable spine of the side. Around that De Canio added flair, skill and tricks with Buszaky in the middle of midfield, Vine up front and Sinclair and Rowlands on the wings.

At the back Michael Mancienne and Chris Barker were excellent in the full back positions while Camp deserved another clean sheet after a secure performance. The team is really starting to take shape, please God don't let this be another false dawn.

Wednesday came into this one on the back of a 5-0 win against Southampton but were without Glenn Whelen who scored two goals in that game. Manager Brian Laws partnered Marcus Tudgay and Akpo Sodje in attack and they had the better of the opening 20 minutes with the two strikers and attacking full back Tommy Spurr particularly impressive.

Seven minutes in Wednesday almost got the goal their start deserved when Folly's devilish corner was turned onto the underside of the cross bar by Akpo Sodje. It was a terrific set piece and the visitors were unfortunate not to profit more from it.

Sodje's partner Tudgay had a low shot deflected about an inch wide of the post with most of the South Africa Road stand assuming it was flying in before former Port Vale man Sodje got into the thick of the action again.

Former R Frankie Simek sent a ball into the right channel but everything looked to be under control with Malcolm an obvious favourite to reach it first. Now I know I said he was slow in the match preview, and you only have to watch him for ten minutes in Derby's reserves to know that, but in a straight foot race with Sodje showed him to be lacking in pace far more than even I had previously realised. He was embarrassed. The striker had ten yards at least to make up but did that with consummate ease, leaving Malcolm for dead before drawing a smart save from Lee Camp.

It was horrifying to see Malcolm out done like this and the fans took a clear and immediate dislike to the new loaned centre half. He was outpaced a couple more times, got booked for a horrible late tackle on Tudgay after arriving late again and didn't win one thing in the air all afternoon. It was a shambolic debut and cheers of relief greeted his second half withdrawal and the introduction of Sammy Timoska. On this evidence we'd have been better off keeping Martin Cranie and playing him with his broken leg.

Luckily the other three defenders were right on top of their games. Damion Stewart is in outstanding form at the moment and was absolutely magnificent throughout, winning every header, every battle and every foot race with his opponents as well as using the ball sensibly when in possession. He's not making the stupid mistakes and losing concentration like he used to, he was every bit as good as Shittu yesterday. Mancienne was also back to his best at right back and Chris Barker had his best game for the club on the other side - he's come on in leaps and bounds since his hernia op and is starting to look like a decent signing. This all meant that we had just enough to cover for Malcolm who was obviously out of his depth.

The Wednesday fans, who filled every seat in the School End, responded to their team's lively start with support the likes of which we haven't seen in the Bush for some time. At one stage in the first half a wall of noise was being omitted from the travelling thousands, particularly a lively bunch in the middle of the upper tier. Quality support.

There was only one team in it for the first quarter of an hour but after surviving the relentless pressure QPR started to make some inroads of their own. First a string of passes culminated in Vine laying a brilliant ball through to Sinclair who sprung the offside trap but saw his low drive blocked by Lee Grant who'd rushed from his line to meet the Chelsea winger.

The offside trap did its job properly 90 seconds later though as Vine converted Rowlands' neat through ball only to see the flag up and the goal ruled out. Vine then tried his luck from long range after excellent hold up play by Dexter Blackstock, Grant tipped his twenty yard effort out for a corner. Buzsaky then had a smack from similar distance but the ball skimmed the roof of the net without troubling the in form keeper.

Buzsaky was in the thick of the action again just after the half hour. More terrific passing football around the edge of the Wednesday penalty area culminated in Blackstock teeing up the Hungarian who skipped into the area past two men with a sublime piece of skill but Grant was on hand again to deny him with a great save.

Rangers came agonisingly close to taking the lead three times in a minute just before half time. First Scott Sinclair picked the ball up wide on the left after an awesome long range pass from Buzsaky and cut into the penalty area before firing a powerful low shot through the six yard box and off the foot of the post. Rangers forced a corner straight away and with the frame of the goal still shaking Mikele Leigertwood's header hit the bar and dropped down into the six yard box. It seemed a goal had to come but the ball bobbled around the goal mouth for what seemed like an eternity with nobody able to convert it and eventually Wednesday scrambled the ball away.

Both teams were warmly applauded off at the break after an excellent half of high quality, evenly contested football.

The second half started in much the same way as the first with Sheff Wed piling forwards first of all, Camp did well to save Burton O'Brien's low drive, and Rangers responding in kind with Richard Hinds lucky not to turn Rowan Vine's cross into his own net at full stretch.

Vine went a good deal closer five minutes after the break when a lovely combination of passes with Scott Sinclair created an opening for him - Lee Grant diverted the ball around the post. Had the ball fallen to Vine's favoured foot he may well have done better.

QPR were much the better side in the second half, driven around the pitch by Buzsaky and Leigertwood in midfield. Leigertwood in particular is playing so well at the moment - he dominated the opposition again in this match with superb upper body strength and a range of passing I'm not sure even he knew he possessed prior to De Canio's arrival. Gregory made some ridiculous decisions prior to his sacking but spending £900k on this outstanding midfield player certainly wasn't one of them.

Scott Sinclair then had a mishit effort saved in cat like fashion from Grant and the two resumed their battle within ten minutes. Sinclair caught the ball fiercely this time from twelve yards out right of centre, Grant produced the save of the game to claw the ball out of his bottom right hand corner and away to safety.

In between those two efforts from Sinclair Wednesday hit the woodwork for the second time. Burton O'Brien cut in from the right wing and chose to try and search out the far top corner rather than cross into a crowded penalty area. Normally managers and team mates are furious with players who are so selfish in such positions but they hardly complain to O'Brien whose curling, swirling effort hit the face of the cross bar and bounced back out again.

Wednesday struggled to create anything further once the hapless Malcolm had been replaced by Timoska at centre half. I still have a collection of badges and banners from the last "bring back Timoska" campaign I launched and I may well put these on sale at Stoke if he doesn't start the game there on Tuesday. There must be something I don't know or see about the Fin because for me he's better than anything else we have to partner Stewart and I don't understand why, after a perfectly acceptable and at times impressive display at Palace a fortnight ago, he was replaced by somebody as poor as Malcolm for this game. Get him back in the side I say, he was excellent for the final 20 minutes along side the near faultless Stewart.

As time ticked on Scott Sinclair let his youth and inexperience get the better of him when a marauding run from inside his own half took him all the way to the penalty area but then he blasted the ball into the Loft when a simple squared pass to Vine would have resulted in the crucial goal and brought the house down. Vine brought a booking from Michael Johnson after turning him and being pulled back as the R's continued to press.

You could tell we were getting on top as Grant started to waste time from very early on in the half, and Tudgay managed to get the play stopped as we pressed forward by pretending to be injured in the six yard box. He confirmed as much by grinning at the irate QPR fans on his way off - I hate to see it, but I suppose I'd want my players to do the same if it stopped us conceding a goal.

The only slight complaint I would have about an excellent QPR performance was the waste of three very presentable free kicks. Before half time Martin Rowlands lofted the ball harmlessly into the Wednesday fans from right on the edge of the area after Rowan Vine had made the most of a tackle by Richard Hinds. Then in the second half Rowlands curled the ball into the crowd again after referee Beeby harshly penalised two Wednesday players for blocking off Scott Sinclair. Then when Akos Buzsaky was finally allowed to take a free kick he too sent it over the bar. These need to be worked on in training.

So for the second time in as many games Rangers played brilliantly, and were only denied three points by an inspired goalkeeping display. This was a totally different game to the Palace one though - at Selhurst Park our hosts looked very poor, lacking in ideas, imagination and talent. Sheff Wed were very impressive on Saturday and unlucky not to score at least one goal of their own. This was a really strong test for our defence and three of the four of them proved more than up for it - Stewart, Mancienne and Barker all turned in their best games of the season in my opinion, and with Malcolm alongside them they needed to. I can't imagine we'll be seeing too much more of him.

It's only a small example but one of the things that I love about the way De Canio has us playing is what we do when Lee Camp gets the ball either in his hands or for a goal kick. More often than not the ball is quickly fed out to the full backs or wingers and then worked in field to Leigertwood or Buzsaky. So whereas before we were simply hoofing the ball away down the field and giving it away, now within two or three touches we have possession of the ball and we're advancing into the opposition half. It's so much more effective, and much better to watch.

You would think, on this evidence, that these two teams will easily climb away from their current problems and finish the season safely in midtable. They certainly deserve to if this game is anything to go by.

All QPR lack is a killer touch - a Nugent or Earnshaw type of player who has proven time and again that he can score 20-25 goals a season at this level. These players don't come cheap, but we have the finances to compete now and the January shopping list should be topped by such a player. Scott Sinclair was hugely impressive wide left and it's a shame he'll have to go back soon - disappointed tempered by the presence of Hogan Ephraim at the game with his family yesterday. With Colchester failing to take him on loan last week and Warnock throwing toys about in his newspaper column this weekend over Hogan's lack of response to his offer it seems we may have won that particular race.

The fixtures come thick and fast now and while Stoke on Tuesday looks a tough game we then have three games against chronically out of form, poor football teams. The amount of points we take from Blackpool, Palace and Scunthorpe next week could determine just what kind of season we're going to end up having. If we keep playing like this it's hard to see it being anything other than a successful one.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

QPR: Camp 7, Malcolm 4 (Timoska 65, 7), Mancienne 8, Stewart 9, Barker 8, Rowlands 6, Leigertwood 9, Buzsaky 7, Vine 7, Blackstock 7 (Nygaard 82, -),Sinclair 8.
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bolder, Ainsworth
Booked: Malcolm (foul)

Sheff Wed: Grant 9, Simek 7, Hinds 7, Michael Johnson 7, Spurr 8,Jermaine Johnson 7 (Small 80, -), Watson 7, Folly 7, O'Brien 7,Sodje 7 (Burton 57, 7), Tudgay 7
Subs Not Used: Lunt, Esajas, Beevers
Booked: Michael Johnson (shirt pulling)

QPR Star Man - Damion Stewart 9 - Won every header, every tackle, every race, used the ball wisely, did the sensible things well, concentrated throughout which has often been a problem for him, all in all he's in the form of his QPR career at the moment. He needed to be as well with Malcolm next to him - one mistake near the end when poor positioning allowed Tudgay in behind him but Timoska cleared the resulting cross away and the danger passed. Near faultless centre half display. Narrowly pips the excellent Leigertwood to the award.

Ref: Richard Beeby (Northamptonshire) 7 - Failed to clamp down on Grant's time wasting in the second half, and let a couple of tackles go without bookings when they probably warranted them. The two cards he did give were correct and overall this wasn't too bad a display.

Attendance: 15,241 (3000 Wednesday fans approx) Fantastic support from both sets of fans with the Wednesday fans easily the best support we've seen at Loftus Road for many a month. Terrific atmosphere for most of the game.

Photo: Action Images

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