Hall confident QPR will have full squad against Burnley

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Temporary boss Paul Hall says QPR’s injured contingent should be in fit to face Burnley on December 11.

Hall, who is in charge until the club announce a successor to Mick Beale, who quit on Monday to take up the managerial role at Rangers, oversaw Tuesday’s 2-1 friendly win over Livingston.


Chris Willock, Rob Dickie, Leon Balogun, Luke Amos and Stefan Johansen were among those who sat out the behind-closed-doors match against the Scottish Premier League outfit as they recover from various injuries.

Dickie and Willock played in the final match before the World Cup break, at Coventry last month, but had recently returned from lay-offs with Amos (hamstring), skipper Johansen (ankle) and Balogun (calf) all missing the 2-0 defeat.

On-loan striker Tyler Roberts has also returned from Leeds where he was recuperating from a calf problem that ended his World Cup hopes with Wales – and should be in contention for the visit of the league leaders in the first game since Beale walked out after less than five months in charge.

“They were just not ready at this moment and it just a case of working them back fit and hopefully they will be ready to return to training in the next few days,” Hall said.

“Chris has just come back and he is not just quite ready so we didn’t want to risk him in a game like the Livingston one, but he is back in training, but this is just one step towards the Burnley game.

“I just need to get these boys all ready for that, that is what I have been asked to do.”

The win against Livingston saw first-team debuts for young midfielders Elijah Dixon-Bonner and Alex Aoraha, with both players producing encouraging performances after being introduced in the second half.

Dixon-Bonner signed a short-term contract recently following his release from Liverpool.

Aoraha, 19, has been capped at senior level by Iraq.

“Elijah is a good player, you can see that he is nice on the ball but he probably needs more fitness as it was his first competitive game,” Hall said.

“He played for me in the B team not so long ago and did well and he needs to continue that.

“Alex is a player who needs to grow into his body a bit more, but long-term we believe he can be an able understudy to Sam Field and Stefan Johansen.

“We have to get hold of these players and make sure they are keeping the players that are in front of them honest, that is the challenge.”