Injury Time Stunner For Under 20’s

Celtic 3 Rangers 2

Rangers Under 20’s suffered a cruel defeat in tonight’s Glasgow Cup Final at Celtic Park. Trailing to two first half goals, two Glenn Middleton strikes in the last fifteen minutes drew them level. They then missed a great opportunity to win it only to lose a goal with virtually the last kick of the ball.

Rangers were first to threaten when Stephen Kelly passed to Josh McPake on the right, he went past Daniel Church into the box and centred for Andy Dallas whose shot was blocked by Wallace Duffy right in front of goal. Celtic took the lead just before the twenty minute mark, Jack Aitchison cutting in from the left side of the penalty area and shooting across Kieran Wright into the far corner.

Rangers came close to drawing level on the half-hour mark, Jamie Bajonas exchanged passes with Josh McPake on the right side of the box and passed inside to Glenn Middleton, the ball broke back to Jamie Barjonas inside the right side of the penalty area and his shot beat Ryan Mullen but crashed back off the crossbar. Celtic’s reply was a Daniel Church run on the left and a pull back to Michael Johnston who shot just over from the edge of the box.

Celtic doubled their lead seven minutes before the break, Michael Johnston curling a free-kick from round twenty-five yards over the wall and into Kieran Wright’s top left hand corner. A couple of minutes later Glenn Middleton broke forward and his twenty-five yard effort forced Ryan Mullen to save low to his left. Celtic really should have scored a third on the stroke of half-time, Michael Johnston on the right played the ball across the six yards box and Ewan Henderson with the goal at his mercy knocked the ball over from a couple of  yards.

Half-Time:- Celtic 2 Rangers 0

The second half seemed to running its course with little goal mouth action and the game had passed the hour mark before any real threat on goal. It came from a Stephen Kelly pass that released Andy Dallas inside the right side of the penalty area but he shot over. Five minutes later a Michael Johnston turn took him clear to attack the inside right channel and from the edge of the box he shot just wide of the far post.

With the game now in the final quarter hour the ball was worked from Andy Dallas on the right through Stephen Kelly to Glenn Middleton on the left hand angle of the box and he cut inside to shoot across Ryan Mullen and into the far corner. Jamie Barjonas then passed to Glenn Middleton on the left, Dapo Mebude poked a foot out at the cross into the box but the ball went just over.

There were seven minutes remaining when Cameron Harper broke from halfway deep into the right side of Rangers box, Kieran Wright made the save but when the ball broke to Ewan Henderson it took a superb Cammy Palmer block to divert the ball behind. With five minutes remaining there seemed little danger when Glenn Middleton picked the ball up more than thirty yards from goal but he sent an unstoppable shot high past Ryan Mullen into his top left hand corner.

With the game in the first of five minutes of injury time Glenn Middleton fired in a twenty-five yard free-kick that Ryan Mullen dived to his left to parry, it appeared that Rhys Breen had a tap in to win the cup but the ball ran past the Rangers defender. In the final minute of injury time Scott Robertson sent a free-kick from wide on the left and close to the halfway line into to Rangers box where it broke for Robbie Deas to hook a shot past Kieran Wright.

Full-Time:- Celtic 3 Rangers 2

Celtic;- Ryan Mullen; Wallace Duffy (Grant Savoury 81 mins), Stephen Welsh, Robbie Deas, Daniel Church; BarryCoffey, Ewan Henderson; Michael Johnston (Ross McLaughlin 71 mins); Karamoko Dembele (Scott Robertson 81 mins), Jack Aitchison (Cameron Harper 47 mins), Armstrong Oko-Flex.

Not Used:- Reece Willison (Gk), Paul Kennedy, Ciaran Diver.

Rangers:- Kieran Wright; Danny Finlayson, Lewis Mayo, Rhys Breen, Matthew Shiels; Cammy Palmer; Jamie Barjonas, Stephen Kelly; Josh McPake (Dapo Mebude 62 mins), Andy Dallas, Glenn Middleton.

Not Used:- Nicky Hogarth (Gk), Harris O’Connor, Ben Williamson, Leon King, Ciaran Dickson, Kai Kennedy.