19’s Hit Three Past Swedes

Rangers 3 Hammarby 0

A Ross McCausland double and a goal from Robbie Ure means Rangers Under 19’s take a three goal lead to Sweden in three weeks time. As the teams lined up before kick off the physical size of the visitors stuck out, but an excellent performance from Rangers saw them dominate and control the game from start to finish.

Rangers first serious attack came on four minutes when Ross McCausland controlled a long pass from Leon King to advance to the left hand byline with his low centre being cleared by a defender. There was ten minutes on the clock when Rangers took the lead, Adam Devine was alert with a quick throw in to find Tony Weston deep inside the right side of the Hammarby penalty area and his low centre was fired past William Bjorklund by Robbie Ure.

A further ten minutes had passed when Tony Weston attacked the left side of the penalty area and caused some panic in the visitors defence, the ball eventually found its way to Ross McCausland inside the right side of the box and only a deflection took his shot wide of the far post. There was ten minutes of the half remaining when Tony Weston again instigated an attack, the ball broke to Robbie Ure who teed up Ross McCausland on the left side of the box but shot straight at William Bjorklund.

Hammarby had shown little in the way of attack but it took a superb Jay Hogarth save three minutes before the break to keep Rangers ahead. A superb reverse pass on the edge of the box from Tekin Olgun put Nobel Gebrezgi through but the Rangers keeper advanced from his line to make the block.

Half-Time:- Rangers 1 Hammarby 0

Rangers first effort of the second half came on fifty-two minutes, Robbie Fraser in possession on the left past inside to Ross McCausland and his strike from fully thirty yards was gathered by William Bjorklund at the second attempt. Six minutes later in a rare Hammarby attack they moved the ball from the left to Ben Engdahl inside the right side of the box but he shot over.

Within a minute Rangers came very close to doubling their lead, Ross McCausland broke on the right and passed inside to Tony Weston who’s shot from the edge of the box struck the underside of the bar and then off the keeper for a corner. A couple of minutes beyond the hour Cole McKinnon’s pass inside Markus Karlsson released Adam Devine, he picked out Robbie Ure with his low cross but the striker was denied by a fine point blank save.

With twenty-five minutes remaining Rangers doubled their lead, Alex Lowry passed to Cole McKinnon on the right who moved the ball on to Ross McCausland, he cut inside before firing a shot into the far top corner. Rangers were looking for more and when Robbie Fraser won the ball on the left side of the box he passed to Charlie Lindsay who fed Robbie Ure inside the left side of the box who forced William Bjorklund to push his shot over.

The next chance came when a brilliant Alex Lowry flick released Cole McKinnon he returned the ball to the Rangers midfielder who advanced into the right side of the box before shooting across goal, Robbie Fraser was arriving at the back post but could only find the side netting. With a quarter hour remaining Alex Lowry had a go from a twenty-five yard free kick and left of centre but it was just wide of the keeper’s right hand post.

A minute later Robbie Ure rose to win Adam Devine’s long ball and it was picked up by Ross McCausland who moved it on to Alex Lowry, he dribbled past three defenders inside the left side of the box but could only poke the ball straight at the keeper. Rangers grabbed a third goal to take to Sweden with nine minutes remaining, Adam Devine played the ball forward to Robbie Ure and his flick allowed Ross McCausland to enter the right side of the penalty area, go past a defender and dink the ball over William Bjorklund and into the net.

Full-Time:- Rangers 3 Hammarby 0

Rangers:- Jay Hogarth; Adam Devine, Kyle McClelland, Leon King, Robbie Fraser; Murray Miller; Cole McKinnon, Charlie Lindsay (Mackenzie Strachan 89 mins); Ross McCausland (Rory Wilson 89 mins), Robbie Ure (Arron Lyall 84 mins), Tony Weston (Alex Lowry 63 mins).

Not Used:- Jack McConnell (Gk), Lewis MacKinnon, Connor Allan.

Hammarby:- William Bjorklund; Ben Engdahl, Steven Beko, Gustav Hedin, Markus Karlsson; Nobel Gebrezgi, Ahmet Turhal, William Axelsson, Elias Mohammad; Tekin Olgun, Marcus Rafferty (Victor Sluug 47 mins)

Not Used:- Diego Georgis (Gk), Jesper Lindahl, Essayas Bofua Luvoss, Liam Kallman, Mansoor Dawlat.