Winning Start For Reserves

Queen Of The South 1 Rangers 2

Rangers reserves opened their league campaign with a win over Queen of the South at Palmerston this afternoon. After losing an early goal they dominated the rest of the match but it took a while to turn the game around.

Queens were first on attack and when Connor Murray sent over a corner from the right B???? Thomson sent a looping header goalwards that Aidan McAdams tipped over. Within a minute the home side took the lead, keeper Jack Leighfield sent the ball forward into Rangers half were Declan Tremble got a flick on, the ball broke to Dom McMahon whose pass sent Connor Murray through to shoot past Aidan McAdams.

Just before the twenty-minute mark Rangers countered with a quick break, Stephen Kelly passed to Andy Dallas on the right, he cut inside and his shot appeared to strike the raised hand of B Thomson but the referee waved play on. A minute later Liam Burt cut in from the right and his shot was turned wide of the far post by Jack Leighfield.

Rangers were now on top and when the ball broke to Serge Atakayi inside the left side of the penalty area Jack Leighfield seemed a bit fortunate to scramble the ball over. Rangers looked certain to draw level on twenty-six minutes, Serge Atakayi, midway in side the Queens half picked out Liam Burt to leave him one on one with the keeper but Jack Leighfield diverted the shot wide of his right hand post with his foot.

With the half now in the final quarter-hour Jordan Houston challenged Robbie Ivison close to the right hand corner flag and the ball broke to Andy Dallas who progressed along the byline with Jack Leighfield cutting out his cross with Zak Rudden ready to pounce. Eight minutes before the break Rangers missed another great chance, Stephen Kelly’s pass leaving Andy Dallas through on goal but he shot wide of the keeper’s right hand post.

On the half-time whistle Zak Rudden chased a Lewis Mayo header towards the left hand byline where he passed inside for Andy Dallas to turn and shoot but the ball was deflected narrowly over.

Half-Time:- Queen of the South 1 Rangers 0

In the opening minute of the half Cammy Palmer passed to Stephen Kelly who shot from the edge of the box with Jack Leighfield saving comfortably low to his right. Within six minutes Rangers were level, Stephen Kelly’s shot from the edge of the box struck Andy Dallas and landed perfectly for the striker to shoot past the keeper from arund ten yards

A few minutes later and following a sustained bit of Rangers pressure the ball was cleared to the edge of the box where Stephen Kelly shot just wide of the keeper’s right hand post. On sixty-five minutes a corner from the right broke to Lewis Mayo inside the box but his shot was deflected wide.

The final quarter-hour was approaching when Andy Dallas cut in from the left and his shot broke off a defender to Zak Rudden who shot home but was flagged offside. What proved to be the winner came with six minutes remaining, Jack Thomson broke forward before passing to Andy Dallas breaking into the left side of the box and he fired a left foot shot past Jack Leighfield.

Full-Time:- Queen of the South 1 Rangers 2

Queen of the South:- Jack Leighfield; Daniel Irving, Ewan Gourlay ( Liam Douglas 50 mins), B??? Thomson, Charlie Exley; Archie Gardiner (Callum Williamson 71 mins), Dean Watson, Connor Murray, Dom McMahon, Declan Tremble (Ross Irving 78 mins) Robbie Ivison. 

Not Used:- Henderson (Gk), Bailey White, Jake Thompson.

Rangers:- Aidan McAdams; Jordan Houston, Kyle Bradley, Lewis Mayo, Scott Gray; Cammy Palmer; Stephen Kelly (Jack Thomson 60 mins), Liam Burt; Andy Dallas, Zak Rudden, Serge Atakayi.

Not Used:- Nicky Hogarth, Danny Finlayson, Kieran McKechnie, Murray Miller, James Maxwell.