MICHAEL Doughty, along with fellow QPR youth products Michael Harriman and Max Ehmer, is enjoying another week of tour training with the Rangers first team and he believes it can only benefit him in the long term.
Doughty, 19, featured in all three games in Asia and came on as a late sub at Wycombe last Tuesday before being named in the travelling party for this week’s stay in Germany.
The midfielder played the last half hour in our opening game against Trabzonspor on Saturday and set-up Shaun Wright-Phillips for his late equaliser in the 1-1 draw.
“It has been a great experience to be around the first team and every minute that I get on the pitch I am looking to impress,” he told www.qpr.co.uk.
“Saturday’s match was a good test against strong opposition so I am pleased.
“When you play against a Turkish side you know what you are going to come up against. They were tactically very good, very strong and physical.
“It was a good work-out for us before the start of the season.”
With QPR’s Premier League opener against Swansea just ten days away, Doughty believes the opportunity to play Trabzonspor last weekend and German side FC Augsburg this Saturday will stand the squad in good stead for the season ahead.
“The trip to Asia was great but they play a different style of football there so it’s useful for us to play against European sides who have a similar approach to that of the teams we will face in the league,” he added.
Doughty, who has been with the R’s since the age of 14, spent time on loan at Crawley and Aldershot last season and he admits there has been a big step-up in terms of quality since his introduction to the Rangers first team.
“It’s a different standard to what I have played in but I am relishing it,” he said. “I feel like I am improving with every game and am just trying to take every opportunity.
“If I become a better player because of that, which I believe I will, then so be it.”