Former Royston Town striker comes off bench to set up equlaiser for QPR reserves against Charlton

FORMER Royston Town striker will be hoping his performance against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday for QPR’s reserve team will better his chances of earning a deal at the Championship club.

The prolific Cambridge City frontman, 23, who has netted 22 times already this season, came off the bench to set up Mo Sharif’s late equaliser after Rangers had found themselves 2-0 down.

The Rangers coaching staff named a fairly strong team for the behind closed doors match at QPR’s Harlington training ground which included former Fulham winger Lee Cook and reports suggest Hammond did not look out of place during his time on the pitch.

There is no doubting the former Histon striker’s ability in front of goal, after he managed to score a staggering 81 goals in all competitions during the 2008-09 season for non-league side Royston Town.

His manager Gary Roberts believes that even if his star striker doesn’t earn a deal with Neil Warnock’s side, there will be no shortage of other Football League clubs interested in taking a look at him.

Lilywhites boss Roberts said: “I understand Craig came off the bench for them and set up a goal, so I think he’s doing well down there and it will have been a great experience for him.

“Even if they don’t offer him a deal, what it will do is alert other clubs to the potential he has, and we’ve already had a lot of people watching him in recent weeks.

“We had a similar situation with Danny Blanchett a couple of years ago, who went on trial to Liverpool and suddenly everybody knew his name and he ended up getting a move to Peterborough.”