In an entertaining, competitive contest played at frantic pace, the Swans finally came through, although there were times in the second half where the visitors pressed us hard as they fought their way back into the match. We fielded a number of U18s and also welcomed Ramon Rees-Siso and Tom Searle back to the squad.
Line-up (4-2-3-1): Jakub Nowak; Billy Clarke (s – Tom Searle 86m), Staitham Bowen, Jack Fanning, Seb Dabrowski; Harlan Perry (s – Josiah Kallicharan 72m), Bobo Evans; Yori Griffith (s – Ramon Rees-Siso 63m), Alfie Jones, Kai Rhodes (s – Kaleab Meron 86m); Joe Davies.
Unused substitutes: Xavvie McIntosh-Wells (g/k), Greg Asomokhai.
With coach Anthony Wright away, Chris Llewellyn ran this evening’s side.
Swansea had already gone close twice in the opening stages through Alfie Jones and Bobo Evans before Seb Dabrowski released Kai Rhodes to send over a teasing cross from the left that QPR keeper Warren misjudged and palmed into his own net.
Swansea looked the slicker of the 2 sides and gave Rangers no time on the ball. Joe Davies snapped up a loose QPR free kick inside his own half and ran clear of 2 pursuing defenders to calmly finish low past Warren to put the Swans 2-0 up on 32 minutes. Yori Griffith, operating in an unusual right sided role, too advantage of further excellent pressing by Harlan Perry and Joe Davies to jink his way into the area and smartly slot home the third goal 3 minutes before the interval.
At half-time QPR brought on right winger Kennedy and left sided midfielder Kolli. Both made strong contributions in the remainder of the game. Kolli – who’s already registered 50 plus first team appearances – scored 2 cracking goals from distance. In between Yori Griffith kept the sides at arm’s length by seizing on more loose possession at the heart of the Rs defence to stride through to score.
The sides continued to trade punches during the remainder of the match, Swansea pressing hard and showing some excellent first touch movements to create further chances to seal the game. Kai Rhodes and Seb Dabrowski combined really well throughout on the Swans left, both being unlucky not to get on the scoresheet in the second half. QPR missed chances of their own, but the outcome seemed well-deserved. It was also really encouraging to see us finishing the game with U18 players Bobo Evans and Alfie Jones running the centre of midfield.
One oddity that can’t have happened too often at this level: during the course of the evening, we featured no less than 4 different captains, Yori Griffith being succeeded in turn by Harlan Perry, Billy Clarke and Ramon Rees-Siso.
Goalscoring: Kai Rhodes (1-0, 17m), Joe Davies (2-0, 32m); Yori Griffith (3-0, 42m); Kolli (3-1, 58m); Griffith (4-1, 62m); Kolli (4-2, 78m).