Holloway admits 120-minute game stretched squad

Ian Holloway admitted agreeing to play a 120-minute friendly at Peterborough ended up stretching QPR’s squad to the limit.

The idea of two 60-minute halves – effectively two separate games – was initially suggested by Posh director of football Barry Fry.

Rangers were happy to agree, but when three players were withdrawn from the squad, manager Holloway had to make late changes to his plans.

In addition, QPR’s Under-23s played Wycombe and a Rangers XI visited amateur side Bovingdon on the same day.

Grant Hall missed the game at London Road because of tendonitis, while Jordan Cousins and Sean Goss were not included either.

However, Holloway was still more than happy with the afternoon’s work.

He said: “What we got wrong, and I’ll admit it, is that we also had an Under-23s game and another game, so we had to fulfil four fixtures today.

“When Barry first mentioned it it was fine because you can prepare for it, but we’ve since had a few injuries.

“But I’m delighted. It’s good for them (the players) and it’s good for our fans as well to see everything.

“It’s not about the score, it’s about playing, getting your fitness and your routines in.

“I could see some pattern from both (QPR) teams and in the second ‘game’ when we went 2-1 down it didn’t faze us, we kept going and I thought that was excellent.”

The Rangers squad will travel to Germany next week for friendlies against FC Union Berlin and Lokomotive Leipzig.