A sound team performance and decent 4-1 result for our U18 against QPR at Landore this morning.
Rain was bucketing down beforehand, but the pitch was in good condition and the game was mostly played in bright sunshine.
We lined up a familiar 3-4-2-1: Ewan Griffiths (captain); Arthur Parker, Ben Phillips, Iestyn Jones; Cameron Llewellyn (s- Teo Minchev 85m), Harlan Perry, Jacob Cook (s- Osian Williams 85m), Aimar Govea (s- Josh Pescatore 46m); Thomas Woodward, Yori Griffith (s- Aidan Higgins 85m); Rohan Davies. Unused sub: Harvey Rees.
Goals: Davies 1-0 (6m), Woodward 2-0 (39m), Woodward 3-0 (55m), Davies (pen) 4-0 (85m), Coomes (90+5m) 4-1.
Our first half lead owed a great deal to Aimar Govea’s ability to get to the byline and cross into danger areas. His deliveries deserved more than the 2 goals we scored. QPR were limited to shots from outside the box and the occasional set-piece. That theme continued for much of the game.
At times in the 2nd half, we completely dominated play, the visitors frequently chasing shadows.
Very good performances throughout the side: our back 3 was disciplined, smothered visiting forwards quickly and were very accurate in distribution, consequently leaving keeper Griffiths with very little to do. Jacob Cook and Harlan Perry tidied up midfield possession quietly, aggressively and effectively. Both Aimar Govea and Cameron Llewellyn made positive contributions.
It’s also notable how comfortable in possession our new graduates now look. The openings that Thomas Woodward and Yori Griffith got last season at this level are reaping big benefits. Both are excelling now, link up well and have a keen eye for goal. Thomas scored an excellently placed header for his 2nd and was very unfortunate not to get a hat-trick today – the goalkeeper denied him twice in quick succession halfway through the 2nd half and he had another header scrambled off the line in the dying seconds of the game. Rohan Davies worked energetically and deserved his brace.
Oliver Jefferies and the team will be mildly annoyed we gave up the clean sheet in added time.
QPR looked a poor side. They were skippered by Wales Under 17s midfielder Alfie Tuck, who was quite anonymous. Fellow midfielder Harry Redknapp is the grandson of, er, Harry Redknapp. He scooped one speculative shot over from outside the box and came off at the interval.
Obscure punk rock reference: both the OS report and our commentator got their Sex Pistols rhythm section mixed up with our substitutions – it was Cook who went off on 85 minutes, not Jones.