Cup Exit For Youths

St.Johnstone 2 Rangers 1

A disappointing performance saw Rangers crash out of the youth cup at New Central Park, Kelty, this afternoon. To be honest only the last twenty minutes when chasing the game did they reach the level required.

The Home side had an early chance when the ball broke for Shaun Stuthers who fed Jamie Docherty inside the left side of the penalty area and he forced a save from Aidan McAdams at his near post. Rangers reply was a Serge Atakayi pass inside from the left to Cammy Palmer who’s through ball saw a race between Andy Dallas and Ross Sinclair that the keeper just won.

Just before the twenty-minute mark Serge Atakayi went past a defender on the left hand byline but his run took him too close to Ross Sinclair who made the save. Rangers did take the lead on the half-hour mark, Jack Thomson’s ball over the top of the Saints defence sent Andy Dallas racing into the right side of the box and he turned inside a defender before shooting past Ross Sinclair.

When Cammy Palmer played the ball forward to Jack Thomson his audacious attempt from forty yards was only just too high. The home side equalised on the stroke of half-time, Danny Jardine dispossessed Jack Thomson and broke into the right side of the box before squaring for Shaun Struthers to shoot past Aidan McAdams.

Half-Time:- St.Johnstone 1 Rangers 1

The second half was only eight minutes old when St. Johnstone took the lead, from Cammy Ballantyne’s corner from the right Ally McCann rose to head low into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Having just made their third substitution midway through the half Rangers suffered a blow when Jordan Houston was helped from the field leaving Rangers to finish the game with ten men.

With the game now in the final quarter-hour Matthew Shiels chased a long ball down the left and broke into the box but his effort was turned behind by Ross Sinclair.  Sixty seconds later Ross Lyon crossed from the left, Andy Dallas helped the ball on and Serge Atakayi’s volley forced a fine save from Ross Sinclair low to his left.

With five minutes remaining Stephen Kelly passed  inside to Jack Thomson and his thirty-five yard shot was beaten away by Ross Sinclair and cleared behind for a corner. When the corner found its way to Serge Atakayi beyond the back post and on the byline, his cross was volleyed just wide of the keeper’s right hand post by Andy Dallas.

That proved to be Rangers last chance and the home side saw out the remainder comfortably to progress to the next round.

Full-Time:- St.Johnstone 2 Rangers 1

St.Johnstone:- Ross Sinclair; Cammy Lumsden, Jack Wilson, Ciaran Brian, Cammy Thomson; Ally McCann; Danny Jardine, Cammy Ballantyne; Euan O’Reilly, Shaun Struthers, Jamie Docherty ( John Robertson 79 mins)

Not Used:- Kyle Wooley, Kyle Green, Gregor Donald

Rangers:- Aidan McAdams; Jordan Houston, Kyle Bradley, Aidan Wilson (Lewis Mayo 63 mins), Matthew Shiels; Jack Thomson; Cammy Palmer (Myles Beerman 67 mins), Stephen Kelly; Liam Burt (Ross Lyon 55 mins), Andy Dallas, Serge Atakayi.

Not Used:- Robbie McCrorie (Gk), Grant Nelson, Scott Gray, Dapo Mebude.