The Young Gers secured passage to the next round of the competition following a professional victory against the Dons at Auchenhowie tonight.
A double from Rory Wilson, and goals from Greig Allen and Tyler Pasnik saw the youngsters progress to the next round of the tournament.
Steven Smith started his Rangers U18’s with a backline of Jack Harkness, Kyle Semple, Connor Allan and Greig Allen with Jack McConnell in goals behind them.
Leyton Dunlop, Darren McInally and MacKenzie Strachan were in the midfield with Robbie Ure, Rory Wilson and Tyler Pasnik upfront for the Young Gers.
The U18’s started with high intensity from the first blow of the referee’s whistle as they were on the lookout for the opening goal. Less than a minute into the match, Rory Wilson opened the scoring for the Rangers side. Robbie Ure collected the ball in the Aberdeen final third and drove towards the front post, he managed to pick out Wilson within the box who calmly slotted it past the keeper.
The Young Gers dominated possession following their opening goal, they were comfortable on the ball as they worked their way into the Aberdeen final third.
However, the visitors found the equaliser in the 16th minute from an in-swinging corner. An Aberdeen player managed to get a touch from the corner-kick and Jack McConnell couldn’t get a hand to the shot.
The youngsters found a bit of momentum following this to find the lead again, Wilson nearly found the second goal for the Light Blues after he looked to link up with a delivery from Jack Harkness, but the flag went off and he was ruled offside.
Less than a minute after this, Wilson collected the ball at the edge of the box, but there was just too much power behind his shot and it was sent over the crossbar.
Greig Allen found the second goal for Steven Smith’s side to put the youngsters back in the lead. Allen collected the ball at the back post and found a pocket of space to slot his shot into the bottom left corner past the Aberdeen goalkeeper.
The squad fell into their rhythm after this and were more comfortable in possession, they continued to work their way into the visitors’ final third to create dangerous opportunities.
Jack Harkness picked the ball up at the back post and sent a threatening ball flying across the face of the goal, but unfortunately, no blue shirts were able to link up with the delivery.
Heading into the second half, the youngsters maintained their pace with important interceptions and effective buildup play towards the Aberdeen goal.
In the 47th minute, Robbie Ure delivered a threatening through ball to an on running Wilson.
The Light Blue managed to find some space and push past the backline to challenge the goalkeeper. He remained calm and collected to roll it past the keeper and into the back of the net.
The pace didn’t drift for the youngsters, Tyler Pasnik netted the fourth and final goal for the U18’s in the 60th minute. Pasnik received the ball just out from the Aberdeen box and was able to push forward, he took a low powerful strike and sent it into the back of the net.
RANGERS U18’S: McConnell, Harkness, Semple, Allan, Allen, Dunlop, McInally (Duncan, 69), Strachan, Ure (Roberts, 66), Wilson, Pasnik.
UNUSED SUBS: K. Ewen, H. Ewen, Lindsay, Graham, Kane.
ABERDEEN U18’S Oluyemi, Fatona, Watson, Murray, McKenzie, Yeats, Emslie, Lobban, Harvey, Wilson, Mason.
UNUSED SUBS: Ochmanski, Stewart, McFarlane, Richardson, Brock, Shingler.