QPR U18 (4) – Southend United U18 (0)

Team: Butler, Harriman, Waters, Ehmer, Bailey, Olley, Bewick, Doughty, Cox, Fernandez, Nanetti.
Subs: Perring, Sutherland, Mirzai, Andrade, Molloy.

Niki-Lee Bulmer was still injured so there was another opportunity in goal with Jamie Butler coming in for Joe Wright. With the 1st team playing at Sheffield United, the Saturday Morning Crew were depleted but it also included Rob Bennett, Roger Stokes and Clive Kingham. Chatting about Dave Morley’s whereabouts, it was thought that he was currently involved at Hemel Hempstead ?We wondered if it was going to be one of those days against the League leaders when Christian Nanetti was blatantly brought down in the box following a great ball from Michael Doughty. Obviously this was a crucial game for both sides and there was a mini flare up which resulted in Sam Bewick and one of the opposition getting booked. Then Southend made a strong appeal for a free kick after Aaron Waters went shoulder to shoulder with their player and successfully negotiated the ball out of play. A goal kick was correctly awarded which resulted in remonstrations with the linesman. The referee then intervened and called the culprit over and then much to our surprise then sent him off. We thought that he must of sworn at the linesman but there was another suggestion that there had been an off the ball incident with Aaron Waters ?

Max Ehmer was booked after he belted the ball out of play when a free kick was awarded. Rangers took the lead when we think Michael Doughty scored direct from his out-swinging free kick which seemed to evade everyone on its way into the corner, although Max Ehmer staked a claim. With Southend down to ten men and the R’s playing well, another goal looked likely. A Max Ehmer corner was nicely flicked on by Daniel Bailey and Michael Doughty’s header then hit the crossbar. At half-time the score remained 1-0.

Great play by Sam Bewick saw him go through the heart of the Southend defence, almost losing it in the process but his perseverance led him to then pull the trigger which the keeper just managed to palm the ball away. At the other end, the Shrimpers had two goes at an equaliser in quick succession when firstly the ball went across the face of the goal and this was followed by a free header which thankfully went over the bar. But the R’s scored next and without doubt it was Michael Doughty who got it from close range. He was also involved in QPR’s third after his superb dummy set up Danny Fernandez to place the ball in the corner. Steve Gallen replaced Sam Bewick with Frankie Sutherland.

Our final goal came from the spot when Christian Nanetti was fouled in the box and Danny Fernandez stepped up to despatch the ball into the corner. Two final changes for the R’s were Elliott Cox and Max Ehmer being replaced by Bruno Andrade and ‘Reggie’ Perring. This was a much improved team performance against a good side. Well done everyone.

Steve Russell

One thought on “QPR U18 (4) – Southend United U18 (0)

Comments are closed.