Goals from Juan Alegria, Kane Ritchie-Hosler, Ross McCausland, Greig Allen and Tony Weston see the Young Gers take an away victory after a positive league performance.
The Young Gers travelled South towards Gretna this afternoon as they took on Stephen Hatfield’s side in the on-going league campaign.
David McCallum made six changes to his squad following last week’s game against East Stirlingshire at Dumbarton, with Lewis Budinauckas replacing Jay Hogarth in goals.
Adam Devine, Johnly Yfeko and Kyle McClelland stepped into the defending backline alongside Robbie Fraser.
Murray Miller, Arron Lyall and Cole McKinnon were in midfield with Juan Alegria, Kane Ritchie-Hosler and Ross McCausland up front for the Light Blues.
Rangers started well in the early stages of the match, managing to pressurise the Gretna backline. Juan Alegria was first to threaten as he pushed into the home box before firing a low and powerful shot towards the bottom right corner, but it fell just wide of the post.
On 8 minutes, Ross McCausland was close to breaking the deadlock after he weaved his way through several Gretna players, advancing towards the goal. He managed to find a small pocket of space to get his shot away, but his strike was a few inches wide of the back post.
This early momentum buoyed the Young Gers who kept up the pressure before Alegria opened the scoring for the Light Blues on the 14th minute. Murray Miller delivered a dangerous ball from the left side and across the Gretna goal, to link up with the Colombian racing in at the back post where he remained composed to tap it into the back of the net past Henderson.
Less than a minute later, Alegria nearly found his double after great build-up play from Adam Devine. The defender played an excellent ball into the Gretna box to try and connect with the youngster, but he was just unable to get a touch to it.
Gretna found their equaliser to close the deficit on 21 minutes after a threatening ball was sent into the Rangers box. The Light Blue defence were unable to clear the danger before Ngoy tapped the ball towards goal. Lewis Budinauckas appeared to collect the strike, but there was a dispute as to whether the ball had crossed the line, a few seconds later the referee awarded a goal to Hatfield’s side.
The home side seemed to gain confidence from this and found an opportunity to take the lead, but Johnly Yfeko did well to intercept the ball and defuse the threat.
The Light Blues started the second half with real intent and desire before being awarded an early free kick in the second half after Kane Ritchie-Hosler was brought down on the edge of the box. McKinnon stood up to take the shot and his powerful strike towards the bottom right corner, but it was saved by Henderson to deny the Gers the lead again.
McCallum’s side continued to create some great build-up play to push into the Gretna final third, but the home side’s backline did well to deny the early second half opportunities.
Both sides continued to battle it out across the pitch in an attempt to take the lead, but it was Ritchie-Hosler on 65 minutes who found the Gers’ second goal to put them in a deserved lead again. Alegria managed to play the ball to the Young Ger within the congested box before he sent it past Henderson.
Gretna did attempt an immediate fight back and they advanced forward several times towards the Rangers goal, but Yfeko and Robbie Fraser did well to intercept the ball with Budinauckas making some crucial saves.
But it was the visitors who scored next after McCausland netted the third for the B team in the 75th minute after superb link-up play between him and Arron Lyall. Lyall drove down the left side and worked his way past several Gretna players, he threaded an excellent ball to an on running McCausland at the front post who sent it into the top right corner of the goal.
A few moments later, Greig Allen put the fourth past Henderson of the afternoon. McKinnon delivered the ball from the right wing into the box where it met the head of Allen. The youngster headed the ball backwards towards the goal and the keeper was unable to get a hand to it.
In the final minutes of the game, Tony Weston sent a powerful strike into the back of the net from within the box. It was great build up play from the squad to negotiate past the backline and net the fifth of the game, with several one touch passes finally reaching Weston, and the youngster was able to send a ferocious strike into the back of the net.
RANGERS: Budinauckas, Devine, Fraser, Yfeko (Allen, 76), McClelland, Miller (Weston, 61), Lyall (Ure, 84), McKinnon, Ritchie-Hosler, Alegria (Lindsay, 76), McCausland (McInally, 84).
UNUSED SUBS: Cervantes, Allan.
GRETNA 2008: Henderson, Clark, Hendji, Martins, Black, Duffy, Ivison, Sabatini, Ngoy (Akobeta, 65), Watson, Hendji.
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