Under 18’s Clinch Title

Hearts 1 Rangers 3

Rangers Under 18’s clinched their league title with three games remaining at The Orium against Hearts this afternoon. Leading by two goals they looked comfortable until a bizarre own goal brought on a nervy period before Kai Kennedy’s injury time strike restored their two goal lead.

There was almost twenty minutes on the clock when Harris O’Connor played the ball forward to Nathan Young-Coombes in the inside right channel, he continued into the box but his shot was weak and Harry Stone saved easily. The home side’s response saw them work the ball in from the left and Ryan Schiavone’s shot was deflected wide of Brian Kinnear’s left hand post.

With twenty-six minutes on the clock Cammy Logan passed to Brodie Strang and his shot from the edge of the box forced Brian Kinnear to dive to his right and turn the ball wide. Just before the half-hour mark Rangers took the lead, Ciaran Dickson switched play to pick out James Maxwell’s run into the left side of the penalty area where he held off the challenge from Aaron Darge and beat Harry Stone with the aid of a deflection.

The lead was doubled within three minutes, Kai Kennedy delivered a corner from the right and Kyle McClelland gave the keeper no chance with a superb volley. Rangers next chance came when Nathan Young-Coombes broke on the right and he passed inside to Kai Kennedy but his shot was weak and never troubled the keeper. 

On the half-time whistle Hearts had a free kick on the left and Jay Charleston-King passed inside to Dean Ritchie who shot just wide of Brian Kinnear’s left hand post.

Half-Time:- Hearts 0 Rangers 2

Hearts got back in the game before the hour mark when Rangers gifted a bizarre own goal. There was no pressure when Harris O’Connor passed the ball back to Brian Kinnear but the keeper either let it run under his foot or got a slight touch as the ball rolled into the net for an Own Goal. With twenty minutes remaining Nathan Young-Coombes dispossessed a defender inside the right side of the penalty area but he shot wide of the near post.

Rangers now seemed to be in a nervy period and were conceding a lot of free-kicks, from one of these Aiden Denholm crossed towards Brian Kinnear’s left hand post where Chris Hamilton rose to head back towards the other post but the Rangers keeper saved comfortably to his right. Two minutes into injury time Kai Kennedy was fouled on the edge of the penalty area and just left of centre, he stepped up to curl a shot over the wall and into Harry Stone’s top left hand corner.

Full-Time:- Hearts 1 Rangers 3

Hearts:- Harry Stone; Jay Sandison, Aaron Darge, Chris Hamilton, Aaron Hickey; Dean Ritchie (Scott McGill); Jay Charleston-King (Aiden Denholm), Cammy Logan, Leo Watson; Brodie Strang (Kieran Mitchell); Ryan Schiavone.

Not Used:- Liam McFarlane (Gk), Mackenzie Ramos, Kyle Somers

Rangers:- Brian Kinnear; Harris O’Connor, Kyle McClelland, Leon King (Kieran McKechnie 53 mins); Nathan Patterson, Ciaran Dickson, Ben Williamson, James Maxwell; Joao Balde (Zack Butterworth 62 mins), Kai Kennedy; Nathan Young-Coombes (Matty Yates 72 mins).

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