It was a stern test for the Light Blues against senior opposition, opening the scoring through Thompson Ishaka before OH Leuven turned the match on its heads before the 15th minute mark.
The young Gers had chances to level throughout the contest, but the game was taken away from them in the third period – with the match played across three 35-minute periods – by the quality and experience of the Belgian outfit.
Indeed, it was a confident start on the ball from the young Gers in Leicester, circulating possession comfortably and looking for the right moment to prise their opponents open. Thompson Ishaka and Ross McCausland almost combined on the edge of the danger area, although OH Leuven were alert to the issue.
The Belgian Pro League side, carrying a 26-man squad for the match, had their first sighting of goal inside four minutes when Vlietnick Thibault sprung the offside trap and centred for Opoku Nathaniel. The attacker set his sights on Lewis Budinauckas’ goal, with the Gers stopper getting down quickly to his right to thwart the danger.
The young Gers then opened the scoring with less than ten minutes on the clock. The attack was initiated when Zak Lovelace retrieved possession with a sliding challenge inside his own half, before quickly feeding the ball into Alex Lowry.
The midfielder evaded his marker with a drop of the shoulder before releasing Ishaka into the space beyond the OH Leuven backline. Steadying himself inside the penalty area, the 18-year-old showed tremendous composure to work the perfect shooting opportunity before dispatching cooly into the bottom corner.
The away side’s advantage was short-lived, however, as the Belgian side found an immediate riposte. A free-kick from the left found the head of Banzuzi Ezechiel who nodded beyond Budinauckas and into the bottom corner from close range.
OH Leuven then completed a quick turnaround to cap off a frenetic opening 15 minutes, with Maertens Mathieu curling into the far corner after manufacturing space on the edge of the Gers penalty area.
The senior opposition began to establish a greater foothold in the contest as the opening period ticked towards its conclusion. Thorsteinsson Jon Dagur looked primed to tee up his teammate with a delicious cut-back on 25 minutes, requiring Connor Allan to be alert yards from his own goalline to snuff out the threat.
There was early encouragement for the Light Blues at the start of the second period. Lovelace showed great opportunism to pinch possession high up the pitch, finding Ishaka on the edge of the penalty area. The young attacker got the ball out of his feet and eyed up the far corner, prompting Cojacaru Valentin into a smart stop at full stretch.
Rangers were beginning to monopolise possession as they searched for a leveller in the second period, with Budinauckas called into a rare stop in the context of the second period when Thibault tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area.
Clear-cut opportunities were few and far between for either side, however, with Mathieu calling Budinauckas into a diving stop when he strode onto a cut-back from 18 yards out.
The hosts had the opportunity to extend their advantage just shy of the hour mark when Mathieu stole possession and advanced towards goal with only Budinauckas to beat. The forward looked to bend his effort round the Gers goalkeeper, but he was thwarted by a terrific diving stop from Budinauckas who kept the scoreline intact.
The Light Blues began to build a head of steam in the final third moments later. A sweeping move from back to front saw Ishaka wriggle free and advance towards goal, picking out Lowry in a promising position inside the danger area. The young midfielder swept an effort towards goal that was thwarted by the feet of the OH Leuven goalkeeper.
Moments later, Lowry curled a free-kick over the crossbar after McCausland had did excellently to drive towards the OH Leuven defence and draw contact.
However, the Belgian side added their third of the contest against the run of play with only minutes remaining of the second period as Ezechiel added his second goal of the game with a powerful finish into the bottom corner.
Ricca Rostagnol Federico headed onto the crossbar moments later from a free-kick as the Light Blues looked to ride out a wave of pressure from their Belgian opponents either side of the second period interval.
McCallum’s young side emerged from the second stoppage of the game with a renewed intent, going very close to narrowing the deficit within minutes. Lovelace once again showed tremendous endeavour without the ball to steal possession, quickly lifting his head to find McCausland advancing in space down the right. The Northern Irish youngster brought the ball under control before shooting across the goalkeeper who was equal to his effort.
OH Leuven had rung the changes at the start of the third period and they were duly rewarded when they added their fourth goal of the contest on 83 minutes. Holzhauser Raphael collected possession on the right and delivered a pinpoint arcing cross which was met by Dom Joren who glanced his header beyond Budinauckas.
Mason Munn then replaced Budinauckas between the posts for the final 20 minutes, with the 17-year-old forced into a fine stop just moments following his introduction after Nsingi Nguidi Nachon fired a powerful strike from close range.
McCallum used his full complement of substitutions before the full-time whistle blew, bringing an end to a challenging test against first-team opposition for the young Gers.
OH LEUVEN: Valentin, Jon Dagur, Siebe, Ezechiel, Federico, Mendyl, Nathaniel, Ewoud, Mathieu, Richie, Thibault
RANGERS B: Budinauckas (Munn, 85), Grant (Hutton, 70), Allen (Webster, 77), Allan, Fraser (Newton, 91), McKinnon (Strachan, 77), Lyall (Pasnik, 91), McCausland, Lowry (Nsio, 70), Ishaka (Graham, 64), Lovelace (Young, 91)
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