Larkeche makes debut and Clarke-Salter limps off in QPR friendly
New signing Ziyad Larkeche made his debut and Jake Clarke-Salter picked up another injury as QPR began their pre-season campaign in Austria.
Gareth Ainsworth’s side lost 3-0 to Slavia Prague and defender Clarke-Salter, who was unavailable for much of last season, limped off just 17 minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.
They are all currently expected to be involved in a game against Austrian team Vorwarts Steyr next Saturday.
Veteran defender Balogun is out of contract but might yet be re-signed by the club.
Taylor Richards went close to scoring for Rangers, who created very little.
QPR: Archer (Walsh 45), Adomah (Drewe 45), Dunne (Clarke-Salter 45, Pedder 62)), Gubbins, Larkeche (Paal 45), Field (Aoroha 45), Duke-McKenna (Dozzell 45), Pedder (Richards 45), Dixon-Bonner (Willock 45), Chair (Kelman 45), Kargbo (Dykes 60).
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RANGERS opened their pre-season campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Slavia Prague in Austria.
QPR were two goals down at half-time, before the Czech top-flight outfit rubber-stamped their win shortly after the hour mark.
Gareth Ainsworth’s men – who included debutant Ziyad Larkeche among their starters following his summer switch from Fulham – lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, initially.
Jordan Archer was in goal, behind a back four of Albert Adomah, Jimmy Dunne, Joe Gubbins and Larkeche.
Stephen Duke-McKenna and Sam Field operated from defensive midfield, with Rafferty Pedder, Elijah Dixon-Bonner and Ilias Chair operating behind Hamzad Kargbo in attack.
Rangers fell behind in the 14th minute after Lukas Provod’s free-kick deceived both the R’s wall and goalkeeper Archer.
And one-nil was two just three minutes later, as Oscar Dorley finished off a ball in from the left-hand channel.
Rangers made some nine changes at half-time, with the likes of Kenneth Paal, Taylor Richards and Chris Willock all introduced.
Willock thought he’d halved the deficit in the 48th minute after latching onto Paal’s fine through pass before sliding home – only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
At the other end, in the 58th minute, Slavia Prague also had a goal chalked off for offside following Tomas Vlcek’s close-range finish.
Second-half substitute Jake Clarke-Salter pulled up in the 62nd minute and looked to be taken off as a precautionary measure as a result, with Pedder reintroduced.
Slavia then made sure of their win on 67 minutes, as Mick van Buren beat the offside trap to finish beyond Joe Walsh.
Rangers return to pre-season action next Saturday, taking on Vorwarts Steyr at the Liwest Arena to round off our trip to Austria.
QPR: Archer (Walsh 46), Adomah (Drewe 46), Dunne (Clarke-Salter 46) (Pedder 62), Gubbins, Larkeche (Paal 46), Duke-McKenna (Aoraha 46), Field (Dozzell 46), Pedder (Richards 46), Dixon-Bonner (Kelman 46), Chair (Willock 46), Kargbo (Dykes 60).
