Pierce hits the target to help secure victory

JORDAN Maguire-Drew made his Coventry City comeback as the Under-23s beat QPR 2-0 at the Ricoh Arena in their last game of the season.

The Sky Blues ran the rule over two triallists, 19-year-old striker Evan Pierce from West Brom’s development squad, and 19-year-old defender James Finnerty from Villa’s development squad.

Pierce didn’t take long to impress when he was on hand to stick the ball in the back of the net to give Jason Farndon’s side an eighth minute lead.

Midfielder Josh Eccles drove forward and unleashed a powerful effort that the Rangers keeper parried, but Pierce raced on to it to slot into the empty net.

Finnerty, meanwhile, looked reasonably solid.

Twins Dion and Devon Kelly-Evans both made comebacks from recent injuries while Maguire-Drew (inset below) also started after several weeks out following complications after surgery to remove his appendix. The Brighton and Hove Albion loan winger looked fairly lively but lasted just 45 minutes and it remains to be seen if he’ll feature in Mark Robins’ first-team plans for the final two games of the season. He was replaced by Bilal Sayoud who scored just after the hour to give City a 2-0 lead. The move all started with Pierce holding the ball up just past the halfway line and slipping Callum Maycock through.

The midfielder then spread the ball wide to Devon Kelly-Evans who cut into the box and sent a low ball across the keeper to Sayoud who slotted home.

Corey Addai made a couple of decent saves to keep the clean sheet.

Corey Addai; Dion Kelly-Evans, James Finnerty, Jordon Thompson, Chris Camwell; Jordan Maguire-Drew (45 mins, for Bilal Sayoud), Callum Maycock, Josh Eccles, Kyle Finn; Evan Pierce, Devon Kelly-Evans.