QPR U21s 1 Brentford U21s 5: Nunes nets in Professional Development League victory | OneFootball

Gustavo Nunes scored a screamer as Brentford beat Queens Park Rangers 5-1 in the Under-21s' Professional Development League on Friday afternoon.

Rico Henry, Yunus Konak, Ji-soo Kim and Paris Maghoma also featured in the west London derby win. The Bees have leapfrogged Bournemouth and Millwall into top spot, putting themselves firmly in control of their play-off destiny as the season heads into its final stretch.

Sam Saunders took charge of the game at QPR's training ground. Romelle Donovan had a good chance to open the scoring as he cut inside onto his left foot and smashed goalwards, but the goalkeeper made a good save to deny him.

On 14 minutes the deadlock was broken as the Bees forced an own goal from Jake Leahy who turned the ball into his own net following pressure from Iwan Morgan.

Brentford were in control of the game. Next, Donovan fashioned an opening for Nunes, hurdling a number of challenges before finding the Brazilian, but his shot trickled just wide.

Positive combination play from the team saw Henry find Morgan in the box. The striker failed to control but still managed to lay the ball for Maghoma whose effort was cleared off the line by Leahy.

The lead was doubled as a sharp team move saw Donovan and Morgan combine with the latter tucking away a first-time finish into the bottom corner of the net.

Nunes looked dangerous every time he received the ball. Just before the half-time whistle he beat his opponent and almost found the net with a crisp effort.

The winger finally got his well-deserved goal as he showed great persistence to break free from a couple of challenges and then fire into the top corner of the net.

The second period continued in similar vein as another fine team move was finished well by Morgan.

An excellent assist from Donovan allowed Morgan to volley past the QPR goalkeeper. The hosts did pull a goal back through second-half substitute Kaleb Dyke who found the bottom corner with a shot from outside the box.

There was enough time for a fifth and it came with four minutes to go as Donovan grabbed another assist, feeding Dickov who had the simple job of tapping into the net.

There are two games left in the league season for the young Bees as they are in action next on Monday 28 April against Crewe Alexandra away from home. The team end their 2024/25 campaign at Gtech Community Stadium on Monday 5 May against Barnsley.

Queens Park Rangers: Halliday, Leahy, Da Silva, Manufor, Talla (Balogun 60), McDowell (Neziri 60), Petrie (Coomes 72), Neill (Dyke T 60), Vaughan, O'Brien, Sanyaolu

Subs not used: Clark

Booked: McDowell 52

Brentford: Eyestone, Frederick (Avenell 46), Henry (Grey 74), Arthur, Ji-soo (Stephenson 43), Konak, Donovan, Owen, Morgan (Dickov 60), Maghoma, Nunes (Brierley 74)

Booked: Konak 28

Eyestone: We did what we needed to do

Brentford Under-21s goalkeeper Julian Eyestone was pleased with the young Bees' win as they cruised to a 5-1 league victory over rivals QPR.

The three points were vital as Eyestone and his team-mates push for a top-two finish in the Professional Development League south group table come the end of the season.

With a Premier League Cup semi-final clash against Southampton and a London Senior Cup final against Hanwell Town to come as well, Eyestone said the group is eyeing trophies.

"It was a good showing from the boys, we came out here and we did what we needed to do," said Eyestone.

"It's easy to let teams back into games and we didn't do that, we saw it out.

"Everybody wants to win, that's what we came here to do at the start of the season and we've put in the work all year.

"You play football to win trophies, so we're all going into it with the ambition to take home as much as we can and win as much as we can."