Gers In Youth Cup Action Tonight

[ian1964 10,416]

THE ‘Road to Hampden’ continues for Rangers’ under-20s this evening as they travel to St Mirren Park in Round Four of the Little Big Shot Youth Cup.

 

The Buddies are a side whom Rangers have had mixed fortunes against already this season, and while there is no question over the Light Blues’ desire to lift a trophy they last collected in 2014 (incidentally at St Mirren Park), Head of Academy Craig Mulholland insists player development will always be at the forefront of anything the Auchenhowie youth coaches do.

 

Mulholland explained: “For Ian Durrant, David McCallum and the staff working at the under-20s, there is absolutely no pressure on them at all to go and win the Youth Cup.

 

“If we go and play our under-17s in it, and we happen to lose a game, then so be it, as it will be the right thing to do.

 

“We are about producing winners, and we won’t hide away from that, and for a young player, they will be desperate to go and beat St Mirren – and rightly so – and likewise the opposition will be desperate to go and beat you.

 

“If we win it, great, and we will be delighted. But our aim is to develop young players and we will never lose sight of that.”

 

It has been almost a month since the 20s last played in a competitive game, and going into their enforced break, they were in scintillating form as Aberdeen and Dundee United were demolished 5-2 and 4-1 respectively.

 

That superb goalscoring spree has continued into the two friendly matches the squad have faced since then in the shape of a 4-1 win over Edusport Academy and a 9-0 success against Airdrieonians.

 

In the last round of the Cup, Ian Durrant’s side cruised through following a 4-1 win over Queen’s Park at Auchenhowie back in early November.

 

Tonight’s game at St Mirren Park kicks-off at 7pm, and you can follow all the action on @RFC_Youth with full highlights and reaction following on rangers.co.uk and the official YouTube channel later tonight.

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/42501/

[Bruno55 0]

1-0 St Mirren....

[der Berliner 3,249]

https://twitter.com/RFC_Youth ... for those interested, 2-0 for teh Saints after 81 mins

[der Berliner 3,249]

That was quick ...

 

U20: St Mirren 2 Rangers 1

 

Monday, 21 December 2015, 20:54 by Nick Thomson

 

THERE will be no Youth Cup success to savour for Rangers this season after they were knocked-out of the competition by St Mirren this evening.

 

In a fourth round tie played at the Paisley 2021 Stadium, home goals from Lewis McLear and Jack Baird were enough to seal a deserved victory for the Buddies and put pay to the Light Blues’ dreams of lifting a trophy they last collected at this very venue back in 2014.

 

Right from the get-go, St Mirren were on top and only a superb last-ditch tackle from David Brownlie right on the edge of the area prevented Barry Cuddihy from going through on goal in the opening exchanges.

 

Lewis Morgan then tugged a shot wide of the target for the home side, while the brightest moment in an otherwise forgetful starting period for Rangers came when Jack Baird blocked a Ross Lyon effort on goal.

 

But it was he home side always looked the more likely to grab the advantage early-on, and sure enough, they did through Lewis McLear with Rangers caught napping down the right-hand side.

 

The lively Morgan was afforded far too much time to cross from that position and he picked out McLear who took his shot on first time and blasted the ball beyond the reach of Gers ‘keeper Robby McCrorie.

 

The visitors looked to respond to that blow firstly through Ryan Sinnamon who saw a low shot saved by goalkeeper Dan Wilks and then Dylan Dykes, who curled an effort in the direction of the top corner but it slipped just wide.

 

Into the second half, and the game continued in very much the same manner, with St Mirren well on top and creating the majority of the chances. Indeed, inside the opening minutes of the half both McCrorie brothers had to look lively with Ross firtly closing an angle on Lewis Morgan to ensure he shot wide and then Robby getting down to an effort from Baird.

 

That man Baird wasn’t to be denied however, and he made it 2-0 when he reacted quickest to a Kyle McAllister shot which cannoned off thee post to slide-in and hand his side a 2-0 win.

 

Ian Durrant’s side tried in vain to find a way back into the game, although but for a shot from Ryan Hardie that Wilks easily gathered and off-target efforts from Jordan Thompson and Jamie Barjonas, Rangers created very little in the way of goalscoring opportunities until the final minute of the game, as Ryan Hardie nipped in to pull a goal back.

 

Confusion at the back from the home side saw Wilks dally on the ball, allowing Hardie to rob him of the ball and fire into an empty net, but there was to be no late drama with St Mirren seeing out the injury time period with ease.

 

The under-20s now enjoy a break before jetting out to Valencia for warm weather training and two matches at the start of January.

 

RANGERS: Robby McCrorie, Mills, Brownlie, Ross McCrorie, Sinnamon, Thompson, Barjonas, Dykes (Walsh, 63), Roberts, Lyon (Burt, 63), Hardie.

 

SUBS NOT USED: Wright, Ashmore, Brandon.

 

ST MIRREN: Wilkes, Baird, Whyte, Stewart, Magennis, McDonald, Cuddihy, McAllister, Morgan, McLear, McGraith.

 

SUBS: Willison, Morrison, O’Keefe, Barrowman and MacPherson.

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/academy-news/u20-st-mirren-2-rangers-1/

[elfideldo 409]

My report on tonight's game

 

https://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/cup-defeat-for-under-20s/

[pete 2,499]

None of the new boys in the team. Is there a reason for that?

[der Berliner 3,249]

... well, Jordan Thompson was playing

[MacK1950 2,231]

Nice to read that Walsh came on as a sub perhaps when he is up to match fitness he will pressure Mckay and Oduwa for a place as certainly the latter is unneeded.

[calscot 0]

I'm wondering if Oduwa is suffering from a lack of confidence at the moment. His form slumped and he's made mistakes and for a guy who seems to thrive on people appreciating him, he has instead, palpable moments of opposition fans mocking him and our own fans frustrated at him.

 

I think his rainbow flick could have been a bit of a turning point - while no-one should publically have complained about it, it WAS disrespectful to players here - although complaining about it was incredibly cringeworthy. The disrespect was that he thought the defender were so naive he could beat them with something like that and make them look like fools. The answer for them was not to complain but instead to take the ball from him every time which would make HIM look like a naive fool.

 

Then after a few times, instead of complaining they should have been saying, he can do that all day if he likes, I'll take the ball every time, thank you very much...

 

However, since then, he's not done many tricks that have worked. Players who don't want to be humiliated are giving him closer attention - and going in harder and sometimes illegally and dangerously so. For the opposition, there is a trade-off and I think in this instance it is at the expense of giving other players more space which Oduwa should be able to take advantage of with a quick ball - but then lots of quick, simple balls don't make you look like you're playing particularly well or very creative.

Edited December 22, 2015 by calscot

[der Berliner 3,249]

Dunno. I doubt that Oduwa notices much of what goes on amongst the support (not least on fan boards) and whether he does anything differently than before. I can't tell, as I have not seen him play before his games for us, so whether that is the normal Oduwa is hard to tell.