| Pre Season Friendly | |
| Tuesday July 26th | |
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Queens Park Rangers 0 |
Charlton 3 |
| D.Bent (3) | |
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Team Line Up
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12.
Jake Cole
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Wayne Henderson
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Ugo Ukah
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5. Dan Shittu
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20. Dominic Shimmin
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7. Matthew Rose
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2. Marcus Bignot
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23. Matthew Hislop
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14. Martin Rowlands
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16. Marcus Bean
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8. Marc Bircham
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19. Aaron Brown
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21. Adam Miller
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6. Tom Doherty
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17. Lee Cook
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29. Paul Furlong
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15. Georges Santos
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Marc Nygaard
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10. Kevin Gallen
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Premiership Charlton were the latest visitors to Loftus Road as the new season approaches. Ian Holloway made several changes to the team which beat Iran on Saturday.
ake Cole started the game in goal with a back four of Ukah, Shittu, Shimmin and Matthew Rose. Marc Bircham was back after injury in midfield alongside Marcus Bean with Rowlands and Brown playing out wide. Paul Furlong and surprisingly Georges Santos were the forward partnership which raised a few eyebrows among the QPR supporters.
As expected the Premiership side looked a class a above Rangers early on. They passed the ball a lot better than Rangers and with a very strong team out they threatened to run away with the game. Georges Santos almost gave Rangers the lead after his close range effort was cleared off the line but Charlton deservedly took the lead through new signing Darren Bent.
The former Ipswich man struck a powerful shot from outside the box which was straight at Cole but the young goalkeeper was unable to hold onto it and the visitors had the lead with Cole at fault. Rangers were second best at this stage with the visitors looking very sharp.
Paul Furlong almost got Rangers level though after good work saw him get away from the Charlton defence and the Charlton keeper did well to deny him. Danny Murphy was next to go close for the Premiership side with a lob from 35 yards out which almost embarrassed Jake Cole.
Charlton did grab a second before half time though, it was Bent again who turned in a cross which was deflected off Cole to make it 2-0. Georges Santos was making a nuisance of himself up front and it was no surprise that he was one of the men to make way for several half time substitutions.
Off went Jake Cole, Ugo Ukah, Matthew Rose, Marcus Bean, Marc Bircham, Aaron Brown and Santos. Holloway brought on Bignot and Hislop as full backs and trialist Wayne Henderson got another chance. We switched to a five man midfield with Adam Miller and Lee Cook out wide and a central midfield of Kevin Gallen, Tom Doherty and Martin Rowlands and Furlong playing the lone striker role.
The switch appeared to work with Rangers getting far more of the ball and looking slightly more threatening. An injury to Lee Cook saw him replaced after just ten minutes with Aaron Brown returning.
The highlight of the night for Rangers came from Dan Shittu. The former Charlton defender brought the ball out of defence and smashed in a shot from 40 yards out which almost broke the cross bar and brought the crowd to their feet.
Paul Furlong then made way for new signing Marc Nygaard but Rangers continued to struggle in front of goal and before the end of the game Charlton added a third goal.
A sloppy tackle by Bignot gave Charlton a penalty which Darren Bent took and completed his hat trick. before the end of the game Henderson was forced into a cracking save to keep the score down and the final whistle signalled Rangers first defeat of pre season.
Rangers now face Birmingham in our last friendly on Saturday before the new season kicks off in just over a week.