U18 Match Report | Queens Park Rangers 3-2 Cardiff City
Cardiff City’s U18 side fell to a narrow away defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the Professional Development League.
Goals from Kyle Kenniford and Cody Twose weren’t enough to prevent the young Bluebirds from having their unbeaten streak ended by the Hoops.
City took the lead when in-form winger Cole Fleming won a penalty which was converted by Kenniford in the 37th minute.
The league leaders entered half-time with the 1-0 advantage; however, just before the hour mark, substitute Rayan Kolli equalised for the home side.
Twose then gave City the lead once more after 68 minutes. The 16-year-old - who replaced Japhet Mpadi just a few minutes earlier - put the Bluebirds ahead with just over 20 minutes to go.
The R’s equalised for the second time in the game through Teddy Lawrence to make it 2-2 with over 15 minutes to play in West London.
With just five minutes to play, City fell behind for the first time in the match when the in-form Kolli secured his brace to give the home side all three points.
Full-Time: Queens Park Rangers 3-2 Cardiff City
Speaking after the game, Head Coach Steve Jenkins reflected on the result: “We started slowly but felt we grew into it.
“We were the better side from around 25 minutes until the end of the first half. In the second half they were probably stronger; they made some strong, big substitutes who were second year scholars.
“We were disappointed with the goals conceded. It seemed to carry over from the Crewe game, but the positives being we created a lot of chances.
“They probably deserved the win in what was a really good game of football and it could’ve gone our way, but it was just one of those days.
“It was good for Cody [Twose] to make an impact straight away after coming off the bench. There’s a lot of competition for places and some will have to be left out of the Youth Cup on Tuesday because we’ll hopefully take as strong a squad as we can.”
City travel to Oxford United on Tuesday night in the Fourth Round of the FA Youth Cup at the Kassam Stadium, before returning to home PDL action against Watford four days later.
