Coventry City's Under-21s played at the CBS Arena for the first time this season

Coventry City Under-21s marked their return to the CBS Arena with a first loss in two months.

Liam Kelly’s team were looking comfortable and as though they might extend their unbeaten run to nine games only to ship two goals in five second half minutes to QPR U21s and suffer a 2-0 defeat.

Ridwanullahi Hassan’s 54th minute penalty was followed up by a gift for Joshua Wright leaving the Sky Blues to rue their own missed chances.

The hosts, who featured Jake Bidwell as their only senior player, should have gone ahead midway through the first half when left-sided defender Tristen Batanwi stepped in, surged past two opponents and released Bidwell down the wing.

His cross found George Sheppard unmarked ten yards out but the midfielder made a mess of his volley and shanked wide.

The first worrying sign came just before the half hour when Riccardo Di Trolio’s diagonal was under-hit and landed straight at Wright’s feet. The winger surged down the left and sent over a cross that flew over Jack Ruddy and kissed the goalkeeper’s crossbar.

That emboldened the visitors and Hassan missed a golden opportunity to give them the lead. Picked out by a pass over the top from Isak Alemayehu the forward had the time and space to do better than glance a header wide from near the penalty spot.

Two minutes before the interval the bright Billy-Ray Cullinane lifted a free kick to the back of the box where Kah’vanni Lincoln challenged for the ball and it broke to MacKenzie Stretton. The angle was against the 19-year-old but he should have done more with the space than fire the ball aimlessly across goal.

Just after the resumption City were opened up when a first time pass sent Hassan in behind Di Trolio forcing the centre back to slide in and concede a penalty. The striker picked himself up and beat Ruddy low to his left.

The Sky Blues should have levelled two minutes later when Oscar Jorgensen curled a low cross into the area but Cullinane applied a weak contact.

They were made to pay almost instantly when Ruddy rushed from his goal to a ball over the top but couldn’t clear. Instead it was hoicked into the area where Wright was able to nod into an empty goal.

The Sky Blues came closest to scoring with 17 minutes to go when Bidwell squared a free kick from the right to Cullinane and his rising shot was clawed away by Calum Ward.

With a quarter of an hour to go a neat combination with Cullinane freed Bidwell but his drive was deflected behind for a corner. The Sky Blues pressed and created some anxious moments for QPR but couldn't find a way through.

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Jack Ruddy 5.5

Did OK but made an error for second goal.

Mackenzie Stretton 6

Had a good opening at the end of the first half but stuck to his task.

Joshua Gordon 7

A solid display.

Riccardo Di Trolio 5.5

Some strong challenges but gave away the penalty and was nearly caught out late on.

Tristen Batanwi 7

Carried the ball well, the pick of the defence

Jake Bidwell 7

First class delivery and diligent performance

George Shepherd 6

Missed a great chance with a skewed volley. Worked hard

Elliot Betjemann 6

Kept it ticking over.

Oscar Jorgensen 6

Industrious in the middle

Billy-Ray Cullinane 7

An inventive display

Kah’vanni Lincoln 6

Good hold up play, sometimes too many touches.

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