Mukendi returns in Beijing Renhe friendly

Forward Jeremie Mukendi marked his return to action after over a year out injured with a goal as our Development Squad beat Chinese League One side Beijing Renhe 3-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Hotspur Way today (Tuesday 21 January).

The 19-year-old has been on a long road to recovery after suffering a serious knee injury in an Under-18s game at Leicester on 1 December, 2018.

But it took him just five minutes to get on the scoresheet in his comeback match, latching onto Elliot Thorpe’s through ball and firing home as we provided Beijing Renhe with the opposition for the final match of their pre-season trip to England. Relegated from the Chinese Super League last year, they begin their 2020 League One campaign at the end of February.

Kion Etete and Rayan Clarke added their names to the scoresheet in the last few minutes to complete a useful afternoon’s work.

“Honestly, it feels amazing to be back,” smiled Jeremie. “I’ve been out for so long and all I really wanted to do was to get back and do what I love doing. I want to thank all the staff, the medical team and the players. Every day when I’ve been coming in, they’ve kept my morale and my energy levels up.

“Although I haven’t been able to play, there are other areas I’ve been able to learn from, watching a lot of players, especially from the first team, to try to copy them and see what I can implement into my game. It’s literally just being like a sponge, soaking up all the information around me.

“It’s been a long time with lots of ups and downs on the journey, but overall I’m happy to come back, score my first goal in my first game and now I just want to keep pushing on and almost try to get back the time I’ve lost.”

Playing as the central striker, Mukendi, Thorpe and J’Neil Bennett all went close to extending our lead following the former’s early opener as we controlled the first half on Tuesday lunchtime.

Renhe made it tough for us after the break and goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi and his replacement Kacper Kurylowicz had to make vital interventions to keep us ahead. Renhe almost equalised from a late corner but we found a second goal in the 89th minute when Bennett crossed for Etete to plant home a stooping header.

And there was a touch of fortune about our third as Thorpe cut back for Phoenix Patterson on the edge of the box and his shot deflected in off the outstretched leg of Clarke, wrong-footing the goalkeeper in the second minute of added time.