Gareth Ainsworth took charge of the reserves for the first time for this friendly against Windsor & Eaton and he got off to a winning start.

Windsor is just round the corner for me and would have been an easy game to get too but a delay on the train home meant it was too late to get to the ground in time so I have to rely on the brief report from the official website for the match details.

The team was made up of mostly last years under 18' title winners along with a few first team fringe players. Zesh Rehmann and Chris barker started in defence so a goal for the home side was almost guaranteed. Daniel Nardiello started up front with Romone Rose out wide.

The game was played at a slow pace and Rangers took the lead early through trialist Chris Flood. The goal came after good work by Matt O'Brien who played the ball through to the young forward who finished which a well placed shot from inside the box.

Rangers looked far from comfortable though and the non league side drew level midway through the half. It was a cracking goal when it came a volley from 25 yards out which gave Crowther no chance.

Rangers looked to the experienced heads of Nardiello and Rehmann to get back into the game but once again it was Romone Rose who impressed out wide and created Rangers best moments.

Ainsworth's side got the winner in the second half when substitute Lee Brown burst forward and smashed home the winner past a despairing keeper.

In the end it was a decent work out for Rangers but the watching Iain Dowie may have a few concerns over the senior players on show failing to impress against non league opposition.

Speaking after the game to the Official Website Gareth Ainsworth summarised the night saying: "I was really pleased with the effort the lads put in for me tonight. I can't fault any of them for that. Our passing could have been better, but it wasn't a great pitch so it was harder to get the ball down and play as we would have liked."

"It's totally different when you're in the dug-out, that's for sure, but I am really enjoying it. The gaffer was here this evening, and he gave me a few pointers afterwards, which was really useful. It's fantastic to be able to get tips from someone like him.

Below is a match report from www.qprnet.com who did make it to the game

FLOOD LIGHTS UP GAME
Tuesday 22nd July 2008
by Ron Norris

QPR battled to an unconvincing 2-1 victory over Windsor and Eton on Tuesday evening thanks to goals from Chris Flood and Lee Brown.

Rangers’ first team coach, Gareth Ainsworth was in charge for this one and he was given a mixed bag to pick from. The match featured mostly youth team players but the presence of Chris Barker, Zesh Rehman and Danny Nardiello can’t say much for their R’s future.

Reece Crowther, fresh from his five minute cameo at Stevenage, started in goal with the back four made up of recent arrival Joe Oastler, Rehman, Josh Ford and Barker. Romone Rose and Chris Arthur were deployed out wide with Danny Maguire and Matt O’Brien the central midfield pairing whilst Nardiello partnered former Brentford man Flood up top.

After belting in good finish after good finish in the warm up it wasn’t long before Flood did similar for real, firing Rangers into a 9th minute lead after a decent opening period for the visitors. Windsor struck back shortly after though, levelling things up with an equally fine strike of their own and all of a sudden Rangers went to pieces.

For the rest of the half there was little fluidity from the midfield whilst the defence was nothing short of a shambles.

Young Josh Ford was struggling to contain a typically aggressive non league attack and frankly should have expected a lot more help from the two experienced players to his left.

Up front Flood found a similar story with his partner, Nardiello who only seemed interested in trying to belt in half hearted twenty yarders.

I can understand these players’ frustrations at being dumped down to this level but if the watching Iain Dowie was looking for a positive response from them he will have gone home sorely disappointed.

The second half proved to be more productive for Rangers as the midfield duo of O’Brien and Maguire began to get hold of the ball and Rose started to get at his full back.

Ainsworth chopped and changed, with Rehman being one of those hooked, and it was one of the substitutes who bagged the winner. Lee Brown, given a second chance after originally being released last summer, crashed one home with his right foot that the Royals ‘keeper will be sorely disappointed with to say the least!

As the game entered the last twenty minutes and the evening began to darken it took an age to get the floodlights on, when they did finally light up a car alarm went off that didn’t shut up for the rest of the game. I reckon the good folk of Windsor were robbing electricity off some poor sods motor because as the alarm started to struggle for life the flood lights packed up, leaving the teams playing out the last few minutes in the dark!

All in all, this was a routine win, made to look much harder than it should have been and will have done little for any of the three first team players who were given a chance to impress and failed miserably.