CALUM ADAMSON was the match winner for a young Rangers side this afternoon as they edged Crystal Palace Under-21s by a 1-0 scoreline in a closely fought encounter at the Rangers Training Centre.
The defining moment in the contest arrived with 18 minutes remaining as the Light Blues split Palace open through a Lyle Wark pass inside his own half and Adamson, who netted recently in the side’s draw with FC Copenhagen, tapped home from an Alex Smith cut-back.
It is a game that Rangers will be all the better for given the talent in the ranks of the Palace youth ranks.
Stevie Smith named a squad mixed with youth and relative first-team experience for the visit of the Premier League outfit, including January loan arrival Rafa Fernandes at the heart of the defence.
It was clear from the outset that it would be an encounter defined by the small margins, with Palace boasting significant power and athleticism through the spine of the side.
Indeed, it was the visitors who engineered the first opportunity of the contest when Franco Umeh latched onto a pass following patient play from the Eagles and, from a tight angle, drew a smart stop from Rydnn McGuire.
Clear-cut opportunities were at a premium in the opening exchanges, although the Light Blues fashioned a decent opening when Oscar Cortes – dropping down in search of minutes – darted at the Palace backline and tried to pick out Chris Eadie who was only inches away at full stretch to poking a finish beyond the goalkeeper.
Palace were certainly prepared to be patient in their build-up play and Umeh again was at the heart of the action when he teed up wing-back Kyan Frazer-Williams who could not keep his finish under the crossbar.
The two teams were trading chances, and from a dead-ball situation Bailey Rice curled a 25-yard free-kick which required Rylee Mitchell to be at full stretch to tip the midfielder’s effort onto the crossbar and out for a corner.
Rice tried his luck from distance nine minutes prior to the interval following lovely combination play from Cortes and Findlay Curtis – wearing the captain’s armband – but his dipping effort was always comfortable for Mitchell despite the Palace goalkeeper’s theatrical stop.
Palace, however, continued to retain a threat going in the opposite direction, with the dangerous Umeh failing to find a clean finish when the ball broke invitingly to the forward from close-range. McGuire, in fairness, was alert to save with his feet.
Fernandes was then well-placed to deny a certain Palace opener when Umeh sprung the offside trap and looked to peel the ball across to Ademola Ola-Ademoni for a tap-in, before McGuire was again on hand to deny the away side when Rangers conceded possession in a cheap area inside their own defensive third.
The south London outfit, in the meantime, boasted Scotland youth international Dylan Reid in the engine room, with the midfielder having made his Scottish Premiership debut as a 16-year-old for St. Mirren at Ibrox in the victory which all but secured the 55th title in the club’s history at Ibrox in March 2021.
Back to the action in the second half and Rangers manufactured their best opportunity of the match within seven minutes of the restart.
Rice underlined his supreme passing range in midfield when he lifted his head and picked out Cortes haring beyond the Palace backline with a slide rule pass, but the Colombian could only drag his subsequent finish wide of the target with just the goalkeeper to beat.
The hour-mark ushered in a half dozen changes from Smith as a host of Under-18s regulars entered the fray.
Still, the scoreline remained goalless and, despite a surge in action either side of the half-time interval, there was still very little to separate the teams in terms of quality.
Eadie found a pocket of space in the Palace penalty area moments later but, when he teed up Paul Nsio who arrived in support, the Englishman lost his footing at an inopportune moment.
However, the decisive moment arrived with 18 minutes remaining, initiated by a sumptuous crossfield pass from Lyle Wark.
Indeed, the teenager’s sweeping diagonal was on the money for Smith who, with only the goalkeeper to beat, unselfishly squared the ball across goal for Adamson to tap into an empty net.
RANGERS: McGuire, Hutton, Fernandes, Nsiala (Wyllie, 60), Campbell (Wark, 60), Rice (Adamson, 60), Nsio, Curtis (McCallion, 60), McCausland (Smith, 60), Cortes (Burnside, 60; Kerr, 67), Eadie
Subs not used: Thackray (GK)
CRYSTAL PALACE: Mitchell, Musanhi, Frazer-Williams (Fasida, 61), Grante (King, 45), Browne, Reid (Williams, 61), Cardines, Gibbard, Ola-Ademoni (Akinwale, 68), Umeh (Lee, 61), Nascimento (Austin, 29)
Subs not used: Eastwood (GK)
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