Pre-Season Friendly
Team: Ward, Mbengue, Morrison, Edwards, Esquerdinha, Varane, Vale, Saito, Poku, Burrell, Kone
Subs Not Used: Salamon, Putman, Akindileni, Ikoroha, Sutton
Attendance: 4,249 (1,365+ R’s fans)
Following the 7-0 win at Bromley the night before, Julien Stephan, not surprisingly, fielded a completely different starting X1.
With R’s fans still taking their seats, Rumarn Burrell had the ball in the net, but it was ruled out for offside.
In the 11th minute, he then produced a shot on target, which was comfortably grabbed by Joe McDonnell.
Then, Jonathan Varane, set himself up to pull the trigger from around 25 yards, and the ball drifted just wide of the target.
Rangers were enjoying lots of possession, and the game sprung into life with the opening goal in the 22nd minute.
After taking control of Calum Ward’s goal-kick, Koki Saito went on to fire the ball into the top right-hand corner.
The R’s went close to doubling their lead shortly after. Rumarn Burrell’s attempt was stopped at the near post, and the keeper then went down to save Koki Saito’s follow-up.
On 28 minutes, Amadou Mbengue burst down the right-wing before being impeded. The resulting free kick from 25 yards into a dangerous position wasn’t anticipated, and the keeper grabbed the ball.
A few minutes later, as Calum Ward went to intercept a cross from the left, the ball came off the Dons No.26 and back into his gloves.
At the other end, after the ball had fallen to Richard Kone, the R’s striker snatched at it, and it ended up going wide of the upright.
The first change was made on 33 minutes, when Jaylan Pearman replaced Koki Saito.
And a couple of minutes later, Joe McDonnell tipped over Jonathan Varane’s strike at goal. Half-time: 1-0.
Into the second-half, and Calum Ward did well to head away Ronnie Edwards’ high back-pass.
The hosts looked the more dangerous in the early stages, but the R’s soon began to click back into gear again.
After the ball had been knocked back to Jonathan Varane, his shot on the bounce ended up flashing just wide of the post.
As the R’s looked to increase their lead, Jaylan Pearman’s effort was pushed away, and Joe McDonnell managed to grab the follow-up.
Ziyad Larkeche and Leon Scarlett were introduced on the hour mark, at the expense of Kwame Poku and Esquerdinha respectively.
Just two minutes later, Leon Scarlett scored Rangers’ second goal. After being put through by Jaylan Pearman, the 16-year-old winger took the ball slightly wide, before slotting it past Joe McDonnell.
Wimbledon pulled a goal back on 69 minutes after Aron Sasu had broken-away down the left-flank. He then cut-in before squeezing the ball into the far corner.
The pacy Dons No.29 burst forward, before pulling the trigger, which forced a flying save from the R’s keeper.
Wimbledon equalised soon after, when Aron Sasu headed in Steve Seddon’s cross.
At that point, Emmerson Sutton and Tim Akindileni replaced Jonathan Varane and Richard Kone respectively.
Rangers nabbed the winner late-on after Joe McDonnell had knocked Jaylan Pearman’s drive onto the post, but following up, he then tucked it home.
Steve Russell
(Thanks to Simon Staal for sending me the above photo)