First trip of the season to Leyland

09/17/2024 03:59 AM

Having played their first two home games at Gawthorpe, the under-21s are back at their regular home of the County Ground at Leyland this afternoon for the visit of QPR.

Last week, the team won 3-1 at Bristol City to record a first victory of the season in the fifth game. That win should have come sooner, particularly in the away games with a late penalty for Millwall earning them a draw against us in the season opener and Bournemouth scoring two late goals to beat us 3-2 at Dean Court.

That win last week moved us up to fifth in the table, but we kick off in fourth place today having seen Sheffield Wednesday drop below us yesterday on goal difference. We take on a QPR side who have picked up one point more than us from their opening five games but currently sit eighth in the south group. They've beaten Crewe and Wigan but been beaten by Coventry, Hull and Sheffield United, the first two of those defeats by 6-0 scorelines.

This is our sixth Professional Development League meeting since we stepped up from Category 3 in 2017 and all but one of them have been at home. We won the first meeting 3-1 with Ntumba Massanka scoring our opening goal and Tinashe Chakwana scoring twice. In the next season we lost 3-2 at QPR when Ali Koiki and Rob Harker scored. The next season the game ended 0-0 and on our return in 2022/23 we were beaten 3-0.

Last season, this game was played on the Turf. We won 3-0 with Joe Westley, who is currently out on loan at Rochdale, helping himself to a hat trick. The team that day was: Charlie Casper, Alex Healy-Byrne, Logan Pye (Tom Tweedy 56), Dan Sassi, Joe Ashton, Basilio Rieno Socoliche (Marley Leuluai 83), Will Hugill, Jez Davies, Kian Le Fondre (Vernon Masara 72), Lewis Richardson, Joe Westley. Subs not used: Sam Waller, Callum West.

Kick off today at Leyland is 1 p.m. Admission is free to season ticket holders, otherwise £5 adults and £2 concessions.