U21 Professional Development League 2 South
Team: Mahoney, Drewe, Gubbins, Masterson, Clarke-Salter, Aoraha, Thomas, Amos, Armstrong, Dixon-Bonner, Shodipo
Subs: Halwax, Pitblado, Rendall, Pedder, Lloyd
On an overcast afternoon with intermittent sunshine, Rangers fielded a strong side to face the U’s. Included in the R’s line-up was Jake Clarke-Salter and 21-year-old trialist and ex-Liverpool midfielder, Elijah Dixon-Bonner.
The first goalscoring opportunity fell to the home side when Olamide Shodipo’s cross from the left flank was headed over by George Thomas.
Then, Sinclair Armstrong turned to position himself for a shot at goal, which he fired over the crossbar. This was followed by Dixon-Bonner’s low effort passing just wide of the upright.
Aaron Drewe’s precise cross found George Thomas in the box and his header was saved by Jaime Tedaldi and the ball ended up going out for a throw-in.
At the other end, Kai Redgrave broke away down the left-flank before cutting inside and although his shot was initially spilled by Murphy Mahoney, the R’s keeper then managed to successfully grab the ball.
Sinclair Armstrong was set-up close to goal but the R’s No.9 tapped the ball just wide of the post.
On 34 minutes, Paul Hall brought on Isaac Pitblado at the expense of Joe Gubbins.
After getting on the end of a through-ball, Sinclair Armstrong collided with the United keeper, which resulted in the R’s striker staying down for a couple of minutes and Jaime Tedaldi receiving some treatment to his face.
The next Rangers attempt on goal was tipped over by the Colchester custodian and was then concluded with Luke Amos blasting the ball into the School End.
After giving the ball away, 33-year-old John Akinde’s shot on the run, was well saved by Murphy Mahoney. At half-time, it remained, surprisingly, goalless.
Rafferty Pedder replaced Elijah Dixon-Bonner for the start of the second-half.
Sinclair Armstrong gave the home side a deserved lead on 54 minutes after he had cut in and squeezed the ball into the bottom corner.
Mr Mackey booked Frankie Terry after he had cynically fouled Luke Amos. The next change saw the R’s No.8 making way for Alfie Lloyd which was followed by Trent Rendallreplacing Jake Clarke-Salter.
Sinclair Armstrong doubled QPR’s lead after around 75 minutes following an excellent move, which led to George Thomas’ cross into the box and the R’s No.9 striking the ball first time into the net.
Jayden Fevrier was shown a yellow card for clearly tuggingthe shirt of a Rangers player.
Kevin Joshua headed over the bar from a corner after Trent Rendall had done well to get enough on the ball to send it behind.
That was pretty much the end of the goalmouth action and at the final whistle it remained 2-0 to the home side.
Steve Russell