QPR U21s 3 Brentford B 1: Young Bees battle bravely but lose out to west London rivals in Premier League Cup final | OneFootball

Brentford B fell just short in their bid to win the Premier League Cup on Thursday evening, suffering a 3-1 defeat to west London rivals Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in a hard-fought final.

Despite a quick response to going a goal down with a Benjamin Arthur header, a firm volley from distance edged the Hoops ahead in the first period. There were chances to equalise as Iwan Morgan and Ashley Hay went closest in the second half, but the hosts grabbed a late third to win the derby and deny the Bees a second title in three years.

Tony Yogane and Hay were making their first starts for the B team since returning from loan spells in League One and Two respectively.

Harry Murphy had the home side's first chance of the game as he dragged a shot from the edge of the box just wide despite being in acres of space.

On nine minutes, QPR opened the scoring as Kieran Morgan found space in the middle of the penalty area after pouncing on a good cross from Emmerson Sutton and finished past Julian Eyestone.

The Bees equalised five minutes later from their first set-piece of the game. Ethan Brierley delivered a sublime cross to Arthur, who powered a header past Matteo Salamon.

Arthur almost grabbed his second of the evening shortly afterwards, drawing a great save from the QPR goalkeeper. Salamon then stood up quickly to make an acrobatic stop to deny Max Dickov's powerful shot.

Both sides had good periods of possession but on 39 minutes, the home side went ahead again as Murphy smashed a volley from outside the box into the top corner of the net via a wicked deflection.

The second period began with a slower pace than the first as the home side were comfortable with just keeping the ball in their backline.

Brentford put together a string of good passes and Morgan's flick fell to Hay, who failed to control his shot as he blazed over.

QPR responded with a chance of their own. Kieran Petrie was found in a dangerous position and the winger's shot was saved incredibly well by Eyestone and with Cian Dillon looking certain to tap the ball in, Benjamin Fredrick made a sensational goal-line clearance to deny the striker.

On 70 minutes, a golden chance was presented to Morgan as he was found in the middle of the penalty area by Josh Stephenson, but the striker failed to hit the target as his effort skewed wide.

The win was sealed with a late header from Jack McDowell, who made it three for the hosts late in second-half stoppage-time.

Neil MacFarlane's side have two finals still to play in the form of the London Senior Cup against Hanwell Town and the Professional Development League play-off final against Bournemouth.

A fixture date for the former will be announced in due course however the final against the Cherries will take place on Wednesday 21 May at Vitality Stadium (7pm kick-off BST).

The Robert Rowan Invitational on Monday 19 May is when the B team are next in action as they take on another London rival, Tottenham Hotspur, at Gtech Community Stadium (7pm kick-off BST).

Tickets for that game can be found here.

QPR U21s: Salamon, Putman, Da Silva (McCann 90+3), McDowell, Wilkie, Tuck (O'Brien 79), Dillon (Vaughan 90+3), Morgan, Bennie (Petrie 25), Murphy, Sutton

Subs not used: Halliday

Booked: McDowell 56, Petrie 83

Brentford B: Eyestone, Frederick, Arthur, Stephenson, Avenell, Dickov (Headman 87), Brierley (c), Owen, Morgan, Yogane, Hay

Subs not used: Shield, Rose, Grey, Williams

Booked: Fredrick 56, Morgan 56, Dickov 71, Williams 77