Rangers Un-Ravel Birmingham..

Birmingham 0-2 QPR

QPR happily got back to winning ways in what was a surprisingly comfortable outing at St Andrews this afternoon...

With it not being the most gruelling of away trips, I met with Jenson in Wycombe at 11.30. Due to family commitments, PK wasn't able to join us today. So, the journey gladly was an absolute breeze and we only really got held up in Birmingham itself, where Jenson and I amused ourselves by taking in the somewhat cultural splendour of the city and checking ourselves in on the social networks at some weird and wonderful places, including the superbly named Karachi Fried Chicken!

We arrived in plenty of time to have a chat with some locals, before meeting up with Lee, Jess, Sam, Luke and later, Lorna before enjoying some pre match chat and refreshments inside, causing a very controversial Pie Rating.. But more on that later..

Despite much apprehension amongst us about the game, Rangers settled into the game very quickly and produced a first half performance of which had we gone in at the break, 3 or 4 nil up, nobody would have complained much..

Kevin Doyle was completely taken out by Robinson outside the box on 14 minutes and from the resulting free kick, the R's were ahead - Ravel Morrison curled his free kick powerfully over the wall and keeper Randolph could do nothing except help it on it's way.

The home side were almost level shortly after as Huw's cross found it's way all the way through but Green took no chances and clawed the ball over the bar. On 21 minutes it could and probably should have been 2-0 when Doyle's cross from the left, found Traore who volleyed wide.

Morrison was involved in the next 2 Rangers chances, seeing one effort charged down by Robinson and dragging his next effort wide after jinking his way into the box. As the half wore on, Hill headed Barton's centre onto the bar and Dunne's header, again from a Barton cross went into the side netting..

Onto the second half and Birmingham looked very lively in the early stages. A cross from the right saw Green save well, low down from a fierce Huws drive. But after weathering the early second half storm, Rangers took control again and thought they had doubled their lead when Morrison's through ball found Jenas who slotted the ball home, only to be ruled out by the offside flag.

Novak and Macheda were introduced by the home side as they hoped to push forward but with 18 minutes remaining, the points were safe for Rangers - some great battling from Gary O'Neil, found Jenas who wriggled his way into the box before squaring the ball to Morrison who coolly side footed home.

Substitute Will Keane saw an effort comfortably saved as Rangers went for the third, which was the final action of the game that I can remember anyway as the R's saw the game out to the delight of the very healthy R's contingent behind the goal..

Queens Park Rangers

• 01 Green
• 15 Onuoha
• 39 Assou-Ekotto
• 16 Jenas
• 05 Dunne
• 06 Hill
• 23 Hoilett (O'Neil - 70' )
• 17 Barton
• 14 Doyle (Keane - 84' )
• 04 Morrison (Carroll - 87' )
• 03 Traore

Substitutes

• 10 Carroll
• 12 Keane
• 18 Hughes
• 20 Henry
• 26 Murphy
• 35 Benayoun
• 36 O'Neil

Man of the Match

Very nearly a clean sweep, with Sam giving her vote to the again impressive and playing out of position, Armand Traore. A Special mention for Doyle's superb work rate was given by Lee, but his main vote, along with votes from myself, Jenson, Jess and Luke, goes to Ravel Morrison.

AwayDay Pie Rating

Myself, Lee and Jenson all sampled and thoroughly enjoyed a Chicken Balti, filled with huge chunks of Chicken with plenty of spice and flavour and all getting a vote of 9/10. The Best Pie of the season so far were the collective comments. However, Luke opted for the Chicken and Mushroom and absolutely slated it for being dry and the outer being burnt, which also was that burnt, some packaging was stuck to the base. He rightly gave it a mark of 3. So basically, if it was a rating for just the Balti's, it would be a massive 9/10 vote,  but Luke's very disappointing Chicken and Mushroom, brought Birmingham's Pie Rating down to 7.5/10.

In summary, it was another one of those memorable away days for us all with the R's putting in their best performance for a good few weeks now. With all due respect, Birmingham were probably one of the poorest sides I have seen this season on this showing but that is taking nothing away from the way Rangers went about their work this afternoon. Let's hope this victory will give everyone a huge lift and we can take this into our season run in..

Not wanting to sound selfish in anyway but I celebrate my Birthday tomorrow  (Sunday) and QPR have given me the perfect present to kick off festivities.

I will return midweek as a huge gang contingent make their way to the seaside on Tuesday as the R's travel for their first appearance at Brighton's Amex Stadium..

Come on you R'ssssssssss!!!