RANGERS B Team collected three points in the City of Glasgow Cup after defeating Clyde 9-0 at the Rangers Training Centre.
A double each from Tony Weston, Cole McKinnon and Charlie Lindsay; and goals from Ross McCausland, Arron Lyall and Darren McInally saw another positive and dominant win for the Light Blues against Danny Lennon’s side as they continued their Cup campaign.
McCallum made three changes to his squad since last week’s game against Broomhill, with Lewis Budinauckas replacing Jay Hogarth in goals.
Adam Devine, Robbie Fraser, Johnly Yfeko and Kyle McClelland were in the backline.
Murray Miller stepped into the midfield to join Arron Lyall and Cole McKinnon with Tony Weston, Charlie McCann, and Ross McCausland up front for the Light Blues.
The young Gers began the game with intent this evening as they looked hungry to get an early grip on proceedings. The youngsters pressured the Clyde backline in the opening stages, but the visitors did well to thwart the early pressure from McCallum’s side.
The Gers were awarded a free kick on five minutes after Ross McCausland was brought down. Adam Devine delivered a floating cross into the box to find Johnly Yfeko, but the youngster’s header was just wide of the back post.
The young Gers didn’t have long to wait, however, as Tony Weston opened the scoring only a minute later. Arron Lyall picked the ball up outside the visitors’ box and threaded an excellent ball to an on-running Weston who took a superb and deftly first touch before slotting a low shot past the keeper.
The squad continued with most of the possession after this early goal and threatened to extend the lead on several occasions. Cole McKinnon played a lovely through ball from his own half to an advancing Weston. The Light Blue pushed through with the ball and into the Clyde penalty box before the danger was cleared.
The Gers were looking good and in the mood, delivering some excellent one-touch passes to create further chances to double their lead. Charlie McCann was next up as he linked up well with Lyall to switch the ball to Robbie Fraser. He then advanced towards the goal before cutting the ball to the back post to Weston in the box, but the Light Blue just couldn’t connect properly with the delivery.
Clyde did create some danger for the home side’s backline as they looked to push towards Lewis Budinauckas in goal, but the defence held strong to defuse any attack and cleared the danger.
McKinnon then delivered a superb threaded ball to an on-running Lyall. The youngster was just unable to take advantage of the opportunity as the attack was calmly intercepted by several defenders in the box.
On 38 minutes Ross McCausland delivered Rangers’ second of the evening after he picked up a clearance from the Clyde keeper. The Rangers man fired a great shot from the edge of the box and into the back of the Clyde net to make it two for the home side.
Minutes before the end of the first half, Rangers made it three as they were awarded a penalty after Weston was brought down inside the Clyde box. McKinnon stood up to execute the penalty and calmly stroked the ball past the keeper.
Into the second half, McCallum’s side looked to maintain their first half performance and put the game beyond the reach of the visitors, and it wasn’t long to wait as Lyall netted the fourth in the 50-minute mark. It was great build-up play from Kane Ritchie-Hosler who set up the youngster perfectly as he hit the back of the net with a close-range effort.
Shortly after, Weston got his double to make it five for the Gers. Devine made a great running effort down the right side and delivered a superb cross to find Weston at the back post, with the youngster powerfully heading it past the keeper.
The momentum didn’t diminish as the youngsters looked to add to the tally, and moments later McKinnon found his second of the evening with another close-range effort with the keeper unable to get a hand to his powerful strike.
Sub, Darren McInally, netted the seventh for the Gers after the squad continued to pressurise the Clyde backline. Devine delivered another threatening cross to Charlie Lindsay at the back post of the Clyde goal, the youngster managed to dance around a few defenders before playing the ball to McInally at the edge of the box. The Light Blue took one powerful strike to hit the top right corner of the goal.
Minutes before the end of the game, Lindsay managed to score the eighth for the Gers. McInally made an impressive interception to deflect the ball to Lindsay who was advancing towards the goal, and he challenged the keeper with a low effort into the back of the net.
Less than a minute after this, Lindsay found his double after weaving his way into the Clyde box once more. The youngster fired another low effort past the keeper to end the game at 9-0.
RANGERS: Budinauckas, Devine, Fraser, Yfeko (Allen, 65), McClelland, Miller (Allan, 75), Lyall, McKinnon (McInally, 75), Weston (Lindsay, 65), McCann, McCausland (Ritchie-Hosler, 51).
SUBS: Cervantes.
Rangers take on Aberdeen this weekend in our Gallant Pioneers-themed home Scottish Premiership match and for the game we have a bumper 100 page souvenir programme that can be delivered straight to your door or purchased at this Saturday's game!
Rangers are delighted to unveil even more football stars who will come to Ibrox on March 26 to celebrate our 150th anniversary as part of the Weekend of Legends, presented by Unibet. World Legends team include names such as Luís Figo, Claude Makéléle, Iván Córdoba, Ricardo Carvalho, Predrag Mijatović, Gheorge Hagi and Roy Makaay. Alex McLeish will manage the Rangers Legends squad which features light blue heroes such as Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Paul Gascoigne, Sasa Papac, Michael Mols, Kris Boyd, Nikica Jelavić, Ronald De Boer, Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar, Pedro Mendez, Lee McCulloch and Jorg Albertz. Additionally, former treble winning Captain and Rangers Hall of Fame inductee Barry Ferguson will be the Rangers Legends Captain.
To mark this incredible occasion, the Rangers Legends squad will wear a specially designed Rangers Legends kit that carries the name of every Rangers captain to lead the club. In addition, the shirt features a traditional collar design reminiscent of some our most famous shirts and our commemorative 150th anniversary crest is proudly embroidered on the chest. This limited-edition shirt is available to pre-order now from The Rangers Store online.