HANWELL TOWN 3-2 QPR DS (22/07/2025)

QPR Development Squad fell to a valiant 3-2 defeat in their fourth pre-season fixture of the scheduled five at Hanwell Town on Tuesday evening.

Hanwell Town kick off their Southern League Premier Division campaign away at Poole Town on August 9th and are managed by Chris Moore.

The hosts came out the traps flying, overwhelming Paul Furlong’s men with some quick link up play led to a Geordie trialist finding Jordy Mongoy at the far post and his bullet header flew past Charlie Warren in goal with less than 3 minutes on the clock.

The youthful R’s side headlined by first team regular Elijah Dixon-Bonner attempted to regroup, and Trialist B had the ball in the net at the 10-minute mark following a Rocco Friel cross, but the flag was up.

Unfortunately, this would come back to haunt Rangers as only a couple minutes later Hanwell Town doubled their lead following an emphatic finish from Mongoy at close range.

The R’s continued moving the ball nicely, going very close through Dixon-Bonner’s cross but Trialist B couldn’t dispatch it.

However, it seemed the experienced and seasoned Geordie side won the physical battle of the night, and it wouldn’t be long until they added a third, this one another bullet header, this time from Dwayne Duncan, following a corner at the 30-minute mark.

Matters were getting a touch spicy with engine Lorent Talla involved in almost every duel in the midfield.

QPR were to be given hope at the cusp of the interval as a defensive slip up allowed Trialist B to calmly charge through and slot home to pull a goal back for the Rs.

Throughout the second half, Furlong called upon all seven substitutes as he looked to shake things up.

This appeared to work as Rangers began having far more of the ball. Trialist B came very close to capitalising on a sloppy back pass before clattering with the Beasant in goal, requiring treatment but was fortunately able to continue.

Among the substitutes was 15 year old winger Leon Scarlett, who joined from Arsenal.

Substitute Cory Adjetey-Brew was notably causing chaos down the left flank at wing back, seemingly being involved in every movement, and even came very close with 20 to go to scoring an outrageous goal from 25 yards.

Just as Rangers were finally hitting their stride, a bizarre moment unfolded at the 75-minute mark with referee Neil Fyfield pausing play for a couple minutes to reprimand the Hanwell Town bench, seemingly for some colourful language that hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Second Half captain Aoraha unfortunately pulled up with already substituted Enis Neziri being given dispensation to replace him for the final ten.

Rangers’ persistence paid off as they pulled a second back through a header from Trialist B at the far post deep into stoppage time.

Paul Furlong’s men desperately threw bodies forward to try find a dramatic equaliser and almost got one in the 95th minute as a deep cross marginally eluded Trialist B who was chasing his hat trick.

QPR DS are back in action on Friday during the Soccer7sSeries in Singapore, and play their final regulated pre-season friendly next Tuesday against Wealdstone.

QPR DS: Warren (Halliday 53), Friel, Trialist A, McCann (Balogun 46), Cuthbert (Adjetey-Brew 46), Dyke, Neziri (Trialist C 63), Dixon-Bonner (Boddy 63), Trialist B (42’, 90+3’), Talla (Aoraha 46, Neziri 80), Coomes (Scarlett 63).

WINCHESTER CITY 2-2 QPR DS (19/07/2025)

QPR Development Squad continued their unbeaten start to pre-season in a pulsating 2-2 draw against Winchester City at Charters Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon with two trialists on target for the R’s.

Winchester City arrived with a 100% record in pre-season and will play in the Southern League Division 1 South this season. Alex Wilkie, who featured for roughly an hour in this match, played for the Citizens last season on loan.

Paul Furlong’s men came into the fixture following wins over Oxford City and Chelmsford City, and things started very well as Trialist B continued where he left off and scored a second goal from range in as many weeks on the 12th minute.

The first half was a war of attrition in the midfield with Trialist B, Wilkie, and O’Brien getting into several duels as the ball remained locked down the centre of the pitch.

The R’s protected their advantage well with Joel Halliday in goal not having much to do all half, and it got even better just minutes after the restart with the rapid Rico Kennedy doing very well to finally get Jaiden Putman into the game who provided a perfect cross for Trialist C to convert from close range, doubling Rangers’ advantage.

Wholesale changes were made at the hour mark, and a fresh 11 was on (with the exception of Halliday). Rangers continued to control the tempo with Lorent Talla dominating proceedings in the centre of the pitch.

With 15 minutes left, the R’s were given a golden opportunity to put the game to bed, after a City foul gave the ref no choice but to point to the spot. Talla stepped up but uncharacteristically sent his spot kick wide.

This spurred something in the hosts as they charged down the other end on a counter attack with a cross finding Olly Balmer at the far post who touched it home to set up a grandstand finish.

The R’s attempted to compose themselves and almost made it three but Winchester City dramatically levelled right at the death as Oscar McCulloch went on a solo run, beating off Adjetey-Brew and then tucking it beyond an outstretched Halliday to make 2-2.

QPR Development Squad are back in action on Tuesday as they head over to Hanwell Town. Live coverage will be provided as always on QPR_DS (X).

QPR DS: Halliday, Putman (Friel), Leahy (Adjetey-Brew), Wilkie (McDowell), McCann (Cuthbert), Trialist A (Dyke), Aoraha (Talla), O’Brien (Neziri), Kennedy (Coomes), Trialist B (12’) (Trialist D), Trialist C (52’) (Trialist E)

CHELMSFORD CITY 0-2 QPR DS (12/07/2025)

QPR DS continued their 100% record in pre-season on Saturday afternoon as the R’s defeated National League South side Chelmsford City 2-0 at their Melbourne Stadium with goals from Rohan Vaughan and Trialist B.

Chelmsford had undergone restructuring over the summer with many new signings making their first appearance in claret today, and started the brighter of the two as they created several chances in the opening few minutes.

Meanwhile, the DS, captained by Alex Wilkie for the first time, were set up in their familiar 4-2-3-1 attack formation. All three Trialists from our victory against Oxford City midweek featured and Rohan Vaughan almost opened the scoring on the 7 minute mark with his shot deflected wide of Clark in the goal.

Vaughan wouldn’t have to wait long for his goal as he expertly finished off Lorent Talla’s perfect ball to give the R’s an early lead just after the 15 minute mark.

Joel Halliday played the full 90 yet again and made several top saves in the first half to keep his side ahead and hold his clean sheet, with Rocco Friel and Cory Adjetey-Brew controlling the wing back positions well. Kaleb Dyke, Archie O’Brien and Lorent Talla in particular did very well to marshal the midfield which forced The Clarets to work on the wings.

In the second period, it was a slightly younger side and just like on Tuesday, the half became very cagey.

Jake Coomes and Phil Sanyaolu linked up a lot with Phil being unlucky not to have got on the scoresheet having come very close several times, including an emphatic strike from range which forced their Trialist keeper into a brilliant save, tipping the ball onto the bar.

Though we would eventually find our second with Trialist B, taking matters into his own hands in stoppage time and scored a beautiful goal from 25 yards out!

QPR DS are back in action next Saturday against Winchester City at 3pm, with full coverage as usual on x.com/qpr_ds and this website.

FIRST HALF: Halliday, Friel, Wilkie (c), Balogun, Adjetey-Brew, Dyke, O’Brien, Talla, Petrie, Kennedy, Vaughan (17’)

SECOND HALF: Halliday, Trialist A, Cuthbert, McDowell, Leahy, Trialist B (90’), Neill, Neziri, Sanyaolu, Coomes, Trialist C

QPR DS 3-2 OXFORD CITY (08/07/2025)

QPR DS defeated Oxford City 3-2 to kick of pre-season preparations at a very sun-covered TSG Training Centre on Tuesday evening.

With First Team head coach Julien Stéphan and CEO Christian Nourry in attendance from the sidelines, the DS certainly put on a first half showing for them.

With a different Starting XI either half, three trialists were also featuring in the first half, at right back, midfield and up front respectively,

After a very peaceful first 25 minutes, the match roared into life as some good linkup play led to Jake Leahy pulling the ball back for Trialist C to slot home to the keeper’s near post.

The R’s would not have to wait long for our second, as 7 minutes later Alex Aoraha’s marauding run was stopped as he was hacked down within the area. Alex didn’t think much of it and cooly sent the keeper the wrong way to double his side’s lead.

This is where the fun really began as Oxford City managed to pull one back very quickly following a headed goal from their trialist, but soon after, and immediately after City almost levelled - an expert QPR team move found Jack McDowell who played in our right back Trialist A as he calmly polished off the move with a superb finish.

Less than two minutes later, it was clear that City were not going away that easily with Tom Scott pulling another one back for them to close the first half out.

The second half was on the whole very cagey with Joel Halliday in goal keeping the R’s ahead several times, making some sensational saves with Alfie Tuck keeping good control over the backline behind him. We had a few chances, most notably Rohan Vaughan coming very close at the end of the 90 forcing a top stop from the keeper.

Variations of the 4-2-3-1 formation seemed to be in operation both halves.

The DS are back in action on Saturday against Chelmsford City.

First half: Halliday, Trialist A, Balogun, McDowell, Leahy, Petrie, Trialist B, Aoraha, Talla, Coomes, Trialist C.

Second half: Halliday, Friel, Wilkie, Cuthbert, Adjetey-Brew, Sanyaolu, Dyke, Tuck, O’Brien, Kennedy, Vaughan.