Colchester 3

QPR 1 (March 16)

IAN HOLLOWAY was blunt in his assessment of Rangers' performance at Layer Road on Saturday. Colchester ran out 3-1 winners to further damage QPR's slim play-off hopes and as far as Ollie was concerned, his team can have no complaints, writes Mike Hartwell.

"We got exactly what we deserved nothing. Full credit to Colchester, they went with three up front and they made it work. I'm very disappointed.

"With Aziz Ben Askar, Leroy Griffiths and Matthew Rose all missing, I felt the formation probably suited the players we had available, but it was a tall order. Rangers' selection problems led to a debut for teenage midfielder Wes Daly but Ollie was nonetheless pleased with his contribution.

"We are asking a young lad to step up from the youth team with a handful of reserve games into a team trying to get promotion to division one and it is difficult for him."

Rangers were unable to create the chances to threaten an enterprising Colchester side and Doudou's injury time strike was nothing more than a consolation.

It took Colchester just 12 minutes to take the lead. The ball was played through to Rapley who took advantage of a stumble from Shittu to unleash a firm strike which deflected off Danny Murphy.

Ian Holloway acted immediately reverting to a 4-4-2 formation and in the 19th minute the visitors enjoyed their first clear chance. Shittu was involved again reacting quickest to a Thomson flick-on but missing his kick in front of goal.

Rangers grew stronger as half-time approached though, and with a minute to go before the break, Con Blatsis had to clear a Richard Langley lob off the line with Brown stranded.

But there were further changes at the interval with Wes Daly coming off for Christer Warren, Forbes going to centre back, Palmer in to midfield and Bignot to right back.

The second half started with Rangers on the offensive and they appeared more likely to score, but with their first attack of the half, Colchester doubled their lead. Joe Keith's cross from the left was headed back across goal towards Scott McGleish who stole in ahead of Terrell Forbes to score.

The visitors kept working, but the game entered a barren period with neither side able to create any clear openings. As the rain came down it wasn't until the 76th minute that a Langley cross was plucked off the head of Andy Thomson.

Even so Colchester were looking perfectly comfortable as the game entered its final stages and with six minutes remaining the home fans were on their feet to applaud a fine third goal. Rapley's 20 yard strike sealed the points for Colchester and compounded the visitors' misery.

QPR: Evans, Bignot, Forbes, Shittu, Palmer, Murphy (Doudou), Peacock, Langley, Daly (Warren), Thomson, Gallen