Hat-trick Hero

[ian1964 10,442]

ARCHIE CAMPBELL regained his goalscoring touch this afternoon by blasting home a sensational hat-trick as the under-19s beat Aberdeen 3-1 at Balgownie Playing Fields.

 

The pacey hitman helped Billy Kirkwood's side take their unbeaten run to three games out of three in the league but it was a strong and confident performance all-round from the Murray Park kids.

 

Rangers went in at half-time with a two goal advantage in place after Campbell had hit the net on 21 and 44 minutes.

 

His first was a quick turn and shot from the edge of the box and he made no mistake with his second after he was found by Isa Bagci who supplied an excellent through pass before his teammate finished with aplomb.

 

But the home side responded quickly after the restart and caught their Glasgow opponents cold by making the scoreline 2-1 with only a minute of the second-half played.

 

Campbell, however, was in fine form and when the striker had the chance to bag his side's third after good play from Kal Naismith there was only going to be one outcome.

 

Rangers are now the only team in the under-19 league to have a 100 per cent record after recent wins over Falkirk and Hearts and Kirkwood was delighted to see his side pick up all three points.

 

He said: "It was very pleasing to see the boys get another victory and it was a good display although we were a bit erratic at times.

 

"Ross Perry and Jamie Ness, in particular, were excellent on the day as was Archie who took his goals really well.

 

"That will do his confidence a lot of good and, hopefully, he can push on now and enjoy a good season.

 

"But overall I thought it was a decent game between two sides who like to get the ball down and it's always nice to travel back from Aberdeen with three points in the bag.

 

"We had a few players out today such as Danny Wilson, Stephen Stirling, Rhys McCabe and Kane Hemmings but the lads that came in did very well."

 

RANGERS: Vaiculis; Durie, Scott, Perry, Cole (Dick 68); Hutton, Forbes, Ness, Naismith; Campbell, Bagci (Wright 87)

 

Subs Not Used: Adam