Reserves Win At Balmoral Stadium

Aberdeen 0 Rangers 3

A fine performance saw Rangers record a convincing win over Aberdeen at Cove Rangers Balmoral Stadium this afternoon. With Gareth McAuley strolling through the ninety minutes in the centre of defence there were a number of other good performances, two goal Andy Dallas  and the two youngest starters Josh McPake and Dapo Mebude to name a few.

Rangers had a great chance in the opening minute when Andy Dallas raced through on Stephen Kelly’s pass, but his touch too him a little wide on the right side of the penalty area and David Craddock dived to his right to make the save. There was twelve minutes on the clock when Rangers took the lead, Andy Dallas chased Josh McPake’s through ball  but Jordan McGregor got there before him, his attempted pass back wrong footed David Craddock who was coming from his line and the ball rolled into the net for an Own Goal.

The home side came close to equalising midway through the half, Greg Tansey’s powerfully struck free-kick from the right hand angle of the box beat Robbie McCrorie but came back of his right hand post, the ball then struck the shin of Miko Virtanen on the edge of the six yard box and bounced just wide of the other post. Seven minutes before the break a great touch from Dapo Mebude sent Matthew Shiels down the left and from his dangerous low cross it took a superb clearance from Luke Turner to knock the ball over his own crossbar.

Half-Time:- Aberdeen 0 Rangers 1

An exchange of passes on the right side of Aberdeen’s penalty area early in the second half involving Andy Dallas, Josh McPake and Stephen Kelly ended with David Craddock saving Andy Dallas’s shot at his near post.  On fifty-five minutes Miko Virtanen’s pass sent Ethan Ross down the right, his cut back picked out Chris Forrester and it took a brilliant Gareth McAuley block to avert the danger.

Almost another ten minutes had passed when a throw in from Matthew Shiels allowed Andy Dallas to turn and shoot from the left hand angle of the box with David Craddock diving to his left to parry. With the final quarter-hour approaching Rangers doubled their lead, a neat move sent Dapo Mebude to the right hand byline and his cutback bounced off a defender to Jordan Houston who took a step forward and rolled the ball across the six yard box to give Andy Dallas a tap in.

Two minutes later David Craddock raced from his box but his clearance went straight to Josh McPake whose lob looked destined for the net until Jack Mackenzie got back to make a superb goal line clearance. Rangers added a third on the stroke of full-time, it started with a great throw out from Robbie McCrorie and ended with Jordan Houston’s through ball sending Andy Dallas through the inside right channel to continue into the box and shoot past the keeper.

Full-Time:- Aberdeen 0 Rangers 3

Aberdeen:- David Craddock; Miko Virtanen (Ryan Harrington 60 mins), Jordan McGregor, Luke Turner, Jack Mackenzie; Greg Tansey (Lewis Duncan 84 mins), Dean Campbell (Morgan Brown 60 mins); Conner McLennan (Seb Ross HT), Chris Forrester, Ethan Ross; Bruce Anderson (David Dangana 60 mins)

Not Used:- Archie Mair (Gk), Sean Linden

Rangers:- Robbie McCrorie; Jordan Houston, Gareth McAuley, Lewis Mayo, Matthew Shiels; Cammy Palmer; Stephen Kelly; Josh McPake (James Maxwell 82 mins); Dapo Mebude (Harris O’Connor 89 mins), Andy Dallas, Serge Atakayi (Scott Gray 66 mins).

Not Used :- Brian Kinnear (Gk), Danny Finlayson, Nathan Patterson.