Club number 10 in seven years since disastrous Portsmouth loan for ex-QPR, Barnsley and Colchester defender remembered for wrong reasons

Now one-time Pompey loanee Cole Kpekawa is on this 10th club in seven years during what has descended into a nomadic playing career.

Now aged 26, the Premier League performer has joined Maidenhead of the National League.

It represents a step up from Hemel Hempstead Town, who finished 15th in National League South this season – the same division as the Hawks.

Kpekawa made 41 appearances and scored three times during his only campaign with The Tudors, bringing him to the attention of Maidenhead.

Since a forgettable two-game spell at Pompey in March 2015, the defender has turned out for QPR, Barnsley, Colchester, St Mirren, Billericay, Slovakian club AS Trencin, Chelmsford, Hemel Hempstead and now Maidenhead.

Unfortunately Kpekawa has been unable to fulfil the potential which saw him come through QPR’s Academy and make four appearances for England under-20s.

Indeed, much was hoped of him when recruited by Pompey on loan in March 2015 to bolster their flagging League Two season.

Then aged 18, Kpekawa arrived at the same time as Nyron Nosworthy, with Andy Awford throwing both in for debuts in the trip to AFC Wimbledon.

Pompey would lose 1-0, with the QPR loanee enduring an uncomfortable afternoon at left wing-back, a position he had never before played.

He retained his place for the following match – a 2-0 defeat to Shrewsbury at Fratton Park – which heaped more pressure on boss Awford, whose side had slipped to 14th.

That proved to be Kpekawa’s second and final Pompey outing – and he never made a squad again.

Despite scheduled to see out the remainder of the 2014-15 campaign at Fratton Park, he was recalled by QPR after a month.

By that stage Awford had been dismissed, with Gary Waddock put in temporary change, and Kpekawa failing to make the last five Blues squads.

Remarkably, he would make his Premier League debut four weeks later, appearing as an 85th-minute substitute in QPR’s 5-1 defeat at Leicester City.

He would go on to feature nine times for Rangers, in-between a loan spell at Leyton Orient, before sold to Barnsley for £450,000 in August 2016.

Following a season at Oakwell, making seven appearances, he was moved on to League Two Colchester, again lasting a year.

What followed were spells at St Mirren, Billericay, AS Trencin, Chelmsford and Hemel Hempstead.

Now Kpekawa is hoping for success at Maidenhead, who finished 17th in the the National League this term.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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