Bristol City boss praises QPR duo

Ben Gladwin of QPR

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson says he hopes QPR will play midfielder Ben Gladwin when the two teams meet on Saturday.

Gladwin signed for City on loan in January but made only one appearance for the Robins before a knee injury led to his early return to Loftus Road.

Johnson remains a fan of the midfielder and wants to see him selected for the final game of the Championship season – for the player’s sake.

He said: “Ben obviously has had a difficult season with injury. He’s a good player.

“He had an outstanding year last year at Swindon, a lot of people were interested in him. QPR took the plunge, but it’s been unfortunate for him this year.

“If he can get a couple of games before the end of the season – he played in the last one and hopefully he plays the next one – he can move into next season really focused.”

Johnson is also looking forward to a reunion with another of his former players, Michael Petrasso.

The winger, who this week said he felt ready for a run in the Rangers first team, played 15 games on loan at Johnson’s former club Oldham in late 2013.

And the City boss marked out Petrasso as an example of QPR giving youth a chance in the closing weeks of the season.

He said: “They’ve got a couple of their young boys who they’ve been playing.

“Young Mikey Petrasso is a good example, who I had at Oldham for a while. He’s a fantastic little player.

“They’re a side who are big-hitters for the division and it’ll be up to us to go there with a relatively young side and try and impose ourselves.”