QPR U21 (4) – Bristol City U21 (5)

U21 Professional Development League 2

Team: Lumley, Springer-Downes, Hamalainen, Rosenthal, Wise, Manning, Prohouly, Butler, N’Guessan, Corkery, Shodipo

Subs: Herdman, Blackwood, Darbyshire

Eventually I met up with Keith Davies, Roger Stokes and ChrisPTenner. Looking around there was Tom Rosenthal’s father but otherwise it was mainly Scouts.

I did speak to a Chinese Student staying in Queensway who considered Rangers to be his local side, but when probed he did admit that the Red Devils were his first love.

We went one down in under a minute when Tom Fry fired past Joe Lumley. At the other end, Joseph N’Guessan’s low, hard shot was well saved by the Bristol City keeper. The resulting corner found Harly Wise who clipped the ball over the crossbar.

Worse was to follow on 10 minutes when Joe Lumley came charging out to meet a dangerous through ball and proceeded to take out Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, who then converted the spot kick when he sent the R’s custodian the wrong way.

Rangers were still creating chances and Axel Prohouly was set up but he hesitated pulling the trigger and lost the ball. The R’s did pull back a deserved goal after 20 minutes when a Tom Rosenthal cross from the bye-line, was met by Nathan Corkery’s head in the six-yard box.

An equaliser looked on when a ball was put over from the left and N’Guessan hung in the air but headed just wide of the post. Then Olamide Shodipo took the ball on his chest but couldn’t quite compose himself and his shot went wide. The referee then blew for half-time with the visitors 2-1 up.

Two minutes after the re-start, the QPR right-back,Rhys Springer-Downes, put a low cross into the box and the ball ended up in the back of the net courtesy of a City defender. I didn’t get a clear view of it as the linesman suddenly decided to stand right in front of me (however, I must add he did offer an apology).

Round about the hour mark, Zac Vyner hooked the ball wide of Joe Lumley following a corner kick, to put the visitors in the lead again. Minutes later, the R’s keeper denied them the lead when he made a flying save to finger-tip the ball out for a corner.

The visitors broke away when the ball was played out from our corner kick, which could well have resulted in another goal, but the ball was belted directly at Lumley. Bristol City did add a fourth when Shawn McCoulsky clipped the ball over Joe Lumley as he went down.

City were awarded another penalty and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans made no mistake for the second time of the match, despite Joe Lumley looking like he got a hand to the ball.

After 88 minutes, the QPR captain, Axel Prohouly, made a good run through the middle and fired the ball into the net.

Then a couple of minutes later, Olamide Shodipo scored the goal of the match, when he burst past four players and walloped an unstoppable shot into the back of the net.

Tyler Blackwood and Danny Darbyshire were introduced after 64 minutes at the expense of Joseph N’Guessan and Nathan Corkery respectively.

Steve Russell