Under 18’s See Off Motherwell

Rangers 3 Motherwell 0

Rangers Under 18’s extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points pending tonight’s meeting between Hamilton Accies and Celtic. Celtic sit in second place with Accies just a point behind in third.

Yet it was the visitor’s who missed a glorious chance in the third minute, a cross from the left went beyond the back post and when it was knocked back across goal  the ball was fired over when a goal seemed likely. Rangers replied when Zack Butterworth played the ball down the left and Nathan Young-Coombes got a ahead of David Devine inside the box but his shot was blocked by Matthew Connelly in the Motherwell goal.

Within a couple of minutes Nathan Patterson played the ball to Dapo Mebude inside the box and his shot was diverted wide of the far post by the foot of Matthew Connelly. From the resultant corner Harris O’Connor got on the end of Kai Kennedy’s delivery to head narrowly over.

Rangers came closer still on the quarter-hour mark, Josh McPake cut in from the left and beat the keeper but his shot game back off the crossbar. He then turned creator going past two defenders into the left side of the penalty area and squaring for Dapo Mebude but his shot was weak and Matthew Connelly saved easily.

Rangers pressure paid off when they took the lead a minute later, Joao Balde passed to Josh McPake on the left hand angle of the box and he cut inside before shooting across the keeper into the far corner. A couple of minutes past the midpoint of the half Dapo Mebude attacked along the right hand byline and his effort from a narrow angle was saved.

Rangers doubled their seven minutes before the break with a brilliant goal, breaking from a Motherwell attack Josh McPake exchanged passes with Dapo Mebude on the halfway line, he raced down the right and played the ball across the box and back to Dapo Mebude who shot high into the net from around ten yards.

Half-Time:- Rangers 2 Motherwell 0

The first real effort of the second half came at the midpoint, a Kai Kennedy free-kick which was saved by Matthew Connelly low to his left. With a quarter-hour remaining Motherwell were reduced to ten men when full-back Jack Brown was shown a straight red card for abusive language.

Rangers made the game safe with seven minutes remaining, Kai Kennedy in possession on the left passed to Matty Yates inside the box and a superb turn made space for the shot which Matthew Connelly failed to hold diving to his left and Nathan Young-Coombes walked the loose ball into the net. A couple of minutes later Nathan Young- Coombes passed in from the left and Kieran McKechnie forced a save from the keeper.

The game ended on a Motherwell attack with Hussein Mehlasseb on the right hand byline, the ball broke to Stuart McKinstry who shot straight Brian Kinnear.

Full-Time:- Rangers 3 Motherwell 0

Rangers:- Brian Kinnear; Nathan Patterson, Danny Finlayson, Harris O’Connor (Kyle McLelland HT); Zack Butterworth (James Maxwell 57 mins); Leon King (Cole McKinnon 61 mins); Joao Balde, Josh McPake (Kieran McKechnie 57 mins); Dapo Mebude (Matty Yates 68 mins), Nathan Young-Coombes, Kai Kennedy.

Not Used:- Lewis Budinauckas (Gk), Ryan Muir.

Motherwell:- Matthew Connelly; Jack Brown, Davis Devine, Yusuf Hussain, Sam Muir; Reece McAleer; Dean Corneilius, Liam Motherwell ( Jamie Harrison); Max McGuigan (Kyle Smple), Cole Starrs (Hussein Mehlasseb), Stuart McKinstry.