Fleetwood Town’s Development Squad fell to their first Professional Development League defeat of the season this afternoon with Queens Park Rangers coming away 2-0 winners from Loftus Road.
The young Rs started the game by creating a couple of gilt-edged chances, with Town looking to hold them off until the break, as Charlie Kelman saw himself through early on, but David Harrington spotted the danger and stopped the attack in its tracks.
Soon after, QPR forward Steven Bala had a chance of his own, after assisting Kelman in the opening chance, but he couldn’t quite keep his header down, with the chance going amiss and over the Fleetwood bar 23 minutes in.
Goalkeeper Harrington was called upon a couple of times throughout the game on the South Coast just after the break as he pulled off a one-handed save to deny Bala’s drilled effort from range before tipping over Albert Adomah’s shot from close range.
With not long to go, Harrington was in the spotlight once again as Rafferty Pedder beat his man and tried to beat the Irishman from a tight angle, but the man between Town’s sticks stayed strong and kept the game at 0-0.
Midway through the second period, Town had their best chances to take the lead in the game as Theo Williams, who made his first-team debut against Shrewsbury Town in August, forced a quickfire double stop from Matteo Soloman.
The hosts though went up the other end of the pitch and were gifted a penalty with eight minutes to go in the clash, which was dispatched by Pedder from the spot, meaning it was all to do with not long to go.
It went from bad to worse in added time right at the end as the hosts managed to double their lead through substitute Kieran Petrie who cut in from the left side of the box and fired into the far corner to put the game out of sight.
The young Cods will now set their sights on the upcoming Premier League Cup fixture on Friday 15 September against Nottingham Forest at home (kick-off TBC).
Town XI: Harrington (GK), Wright, Edwards, Johnson (C), Hughes, Wilson, Morrison, Fishburn, Brown, Williams, Hoyle.
Unused subs: Cragg (GK), Lane, Whelan, Roberts, White.