EDS boss speaks following friendly win over Staines Town … MARC Bircham expressed his satisfaction after QPR’s Under-21s stepped up their pre-season campaign with a 4-0 thumping of Staines Town. A hat-trick from Tom Hitchcock added to by a goal from Michael Petrasso completed the rout, with Rangers excellent value for their win. Speaking to qpr.co.uk, Bircham told us: “I was happy with the result. It’s always good to keep a clean sheet, too. “I was more pleased with our performance in the second half because I thought we wasted quite a lot of chances in the first half. “We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and tried to be too clever with intricate passes around the box. “The lads needed to be more clinical and treat the game with more respect and they did in the second half. “But we played some good football. I want us to be ruthless – which we were in the second half – so it gets us into good habits going into the season.” Speaking on hat-trick hero Hitchcock, Bircham added: “Our work-rate was good again and I was really happy for Tom to get his goals. “I had a chat with him before the game just to say keep going because a few young lads went to Austria with the first team, and a couple more could have gone too. “But the squad was picked on positions. For the ones that didn’t go, the message was don’t be disappointed, do well in these games. “Michael Doughty did really well and Tom got his hat-trick too. They can still get their chance and be noticed.” The Under-21s play just one more friendly fixture – at Woking on August 3rd – before kicking off the new season. “Pre-season has gone well,” Bircham continued, “because we want the players to get fit and not get injured. Touch wood, so far we’ve haven’t had many injuries. We’ve had some good performances in different games. “Pre-season games can be hard if you make them hard, but we’ve done well so far. “We’re defending well too and we’ve just got to keep ticking along, keep getting our fitness up.”
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:54:03 +0000