U23 Professional Development League
Team: Dickinson, Drewe, Woollard-Innocent, Bettache, Carlyle, Gubbins, Alfa, Duncan, Walker, Bansal-McNulty, Dalling.
Sub Not Used: Middlehurst
The visitors came into this match at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium after a 4-1 win over Colchester United.
An early opportunity fell to the R’s after Deshane Dalling had worked his way down the left-flank towards the bye-line. He then fed Lewis Walker, who turned in the box, but his effort was blocked.
A Wednesday player went down just outside the penalty area after having his shirt tugged, but Mr Staynings wasn’t interested.
Then Alex Hunt and Conor Grant had shots blocked. The second one came off Joe Gubbins’ back and this was followed by a free header, which cleared the crossbar.
At the other end, the R’s captain Dylan Duncan found Faysal Bettache, whose effort went just over the bar.
Joe Gubbins was shown a yellow card and the visitors almost took the lead courtesy of an own goal when Tyla Dickinson was forced into making an excellent save from Kai Woollard-Innocent’s header.
Wednesday did take the lead on 33 minutes after Liam Waldock was tripped in the area. The Owls captain, Alex Hunt, stepped up and made no mistake with his spot-kick.
A lofted ball was knocked over to Dalling and the QPR No.11 cut-in to take aim, but he blasted the ball well over the crossbar.
A good move by the visitors could well have seen them double their lead. A long ball found Conor Grant, who in turn found Waldock unmarked in the box, but he totally miscued his shot, which ended up well wide of the upright.
Liam Shaw was booked for standing over the ball as an R’s player attempted to take a free kick.
A blatant penalty on behalf of the home side was overridden because unfortunately the linesman was holding up his flag for offside.
Half-time: 0-1. A word on Alex Hunt who had produced an impressive display for his side.
Into the second-half and Tyla Dickinson made a superb close-range stop from Preslav Borukov and the ball went behind for a corner.
Josh Render pushed Deshane Dalling’s shot round the far post after the R’s No.11 had moved in from the flank.
A goalmouth scramble following a corner resulted in Nathan Carlyle equalising from close range.
The Wednesday keeper made a superb save after Amrit Bansal-McNulty had weaved his way through the penalty area.
QPR had a bit of a let-off when, from a corner, the ball was headed down and the golden opportunity was missed by Fraser Preston from just a few yards out.
However, it was Rangers who took the lead after 60 odd minutes. Good work by Dalling got him to the bye-line, which then saw Aaron Drewe head the ball home from inside the six-yard box.
Joe Gubbins appeared to fall awkwardly after going up to head a ball. He was down receiving treatment for some considerable time, (around ten minutes?) until it was appropriate to carefully place him on a stretcher.
Paul Hall brought on Ben Wells to replace him and he also introduced Shiloh Remy at the expense of Faysal Bettache.
The R’s had been much the better side in the second-half, but it was Wednesday who picked up their game after this incident.
Alex Hunt went close and then, not surprisingly, the equaliser came following a counter-attack. Fraser Preston set-up Liam Waldock who made no mistake as he slotted the ball into the far corner.
Franklin Domi had been brought on earlier for Kai Woollard-Innocent, and he immediately made a good impression. Firstly there was a very nice chest down to Tyla Dickinson, which was then followed by an outstanding block.
After Rangers had given the ball away, the R’s custodian made a superb late grab of the ball to deny the visitors.
The match finished all square after around ten minutes added time.
I don’t know the extent of Joe Gubbins’ injury, but would wish him a speedy recovery.
Steve Russell