RANGERS B strengthened their pursuit of the Glasgow Cup with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Partick Thistle at the Rangers Training Centre this evening.
16-year-old Josh Gentles grabbed the headlines as he netted a hat-trick – less than a month since scoring his first B Team goal – while the young Gers were boosted by goals either side of the half-time interval from Archie Stevens, Cole McKinnon and Paul Nsio.
The Light Blues will now look ahead to fixtures against Clyde and Celtic B in the competition as they look to reach the showpiece final next year.
There was a minute’s silence prior to kick-off as both teams paid tribute to our Club Chaplain, the Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie, following his passing.
And Rangers wasted precious little time in establishing their superiority in the contest as teenager Gentles continued his fine goalscoring run by netting inside ten minutes. A loose pass from the Thistle goalkeeper was pounced upon by Arron Lyall 25 yards from goal, with the ball eventually fizzing towards the 16-year-old forward whose stabbed finish trickled over the goalline.
The second goal for David McCallum’s side then arrived ten minutes later as Stevens marked his return from the Under-17 World Cup with a well-taken strike.
It was Paul Nsio who this time turned architect, supplying a lovely slide rule pass through to his countryman who made no mistake in dispatching a low finish beyond the Thistle shot stopper.
The pressure was relentless on the visitors’ backline as the young Gers stretched their advantage midway through the opening period.
A patient move from the home side appeared to be fizzling out as Stevens broke into the penalty area, but the Englishman showed tremendous persistence to dig out a pull-back on the byline and McKinnon had the simplest of tasks to stroke the ball home into an empty net.
Nsio then passed up a golden opportunity to add a fourth goal of the evening before half-time when he scooped over from close-range, but the hosts didn’t have to wait long to make amends as Gentles netted his second goal of the contest.
A searching pass out of defence found the lively Nsio beyond the Thistle backline, with the 17-year-old’s square pass picked up by Gentles who planted a composed finish with his left-foot into the top corner.
The half-time interval prompted a double substitution from McCallum as Tyler Pasnik and Findlay Curtis entered the fray, with the latter having starred for Rangers Under-18s in the 4-0 victory at Fraserburgh in the Scottish Youth Cup on Friday evening.
The Light Blues continued to probe in search of a fifth goal on the evening and they were rewarded 11 minutes into the second half when Nsio, whose creativity had punctuated Rangers’ performance, got in on the act.
A lovely piece of combination play between Robbie Fraser and Gentles allowed the 16-year-old to enter the penalty area, lifting his head at exactly the right moment to pick out Nsio whose finish was swept into the far corner.
Rangers then rounded off the scoring through the prolific Gentles as he secured the match ball with a supremely taken finish. The teenager timed his run to perfection to beat the Thistle offside trap, racing through on goal before steadying himself and guiding a gorgeous finish into the bottom corner.
RANGERS B: Munn, Hutton (Grant, 61), Allan, Yfeko, Fraser, Rice, McKinnon (Curtis, 45), Lyall, Nsio (Newton, 61), Stevens (Pasnik, 45), Gentles
Subs not used: Halliwell, Allen, McInally
PARTICK THISTLE: Storey, Taggart, Ferrie, Monaghan, McEwan, McKenna, Loney, Falconer, Turay, Horn, McGinlay
SUBS: Cameron, Low, Gaughan, Lockhart, O’Donnell