QPR (U23s) 4-3 Hull City (U23s)

QPR (U23s) 4-3 Hull City (U23s)
Premier League Professional Development League
Tuesday 17th August 2021

For the neutral, this was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon which produced seven goals, plenty of attacking play, incident and goalmouth action.

QPR were 3-0 up at half-time and looked to be absolutely cruising having blitzed their opponents in a massively one-sided first 45 minutes where they created close to a dozen good chances. Their passing was fluid and neat - especially high up the pitch in attacking areas, their movement and intensity was of a high standard and everything was going well for them.

Sinclair Armstrong, Armelindo Mema and Stephen Duke-McKenna got the goals as Hull barely registered anything whatsoever with R's 'keeper Max Little being pretty much a spectator to events.

Nevertheless, the Tigers came out fighting after the re-start and had already pulled one goal back before Amrit Bansal-McNulty was red carded for an off the ball incident with over half-an-hour remaining. A second Hull goal quickly followed to really put the cat amongst the pigeons and, after Little gave away possession straight to an attacker who somehow missed, pinball inside the QPR penalty area only a few moments later finally culminated in an equaliser on 81 minutes.

The R's then only won courtesy of Duke-McKenna's free-kick, awarded for blatant shirt pulling, though my suspicion is the 'keeper will be disappointed that he didn't manage to keep the shot out.

In reflection, it's fair to say that the red card incident had a huge impact on the eventual result. The Tigers used their extra man very well and had it been 11 v 11 for the full duration, the outcome may have ended up being the walloping that looked on the cards for quite a while.

One player who did catch the eye was Sinclair Armstrong - a big bustling physical presence who bore quite a few similarities to Patrick Agyemang. He bore a certain edge and 'nasty streak' in the way he played, the raw potential was evident and he was involved in two or three scuffles with his marker. There is an effective player within him and it'll be interesting to see how he progresses and, importantly, where he is in a few years time. Remember the name!

Another impressive performer, albeit for a limited time was Dillon De Silva. A twinkle-toed wide player and one that would excite supporters with his ability on the ball, he'd showed flashes of creativity and strong football intelligence until his early departure due to injury.

The hope/expectation is that I'll be at plenty of U23s games across the country this season and whilst I won't be doing a blow-by-blow account of what unfolds on this blog (as I do for U18s) matches, I'm looking forward to learning about plenty of new players and experiencing what different clubs have to offer - both on and off the pitch.