Report

The young Dons went down to Rangers at Balmoral Stadium this afternoon despite a late fightback. Barry Robson and Scott Anderson’s side were the architects of their own downfall after 30 seconds as a slack backpass allowed a Rangers striker to nip in before cutting back for his teammate to give the visitors the perfect start.

Despite the blue skies the wind at Balmoral was making it difficult for both teams, with the ball continuing to blow across the park. Rangers were fairly comfortable, but it was a half of few chances with much of the game being played in the middle of the park. The Dons midfield were getting stuck in against their opponents and were looking to release Sean Linden on the right on a number of occasions, but the Rangers defensive didn’t allow the pacy winger many opportunities.

Half time: Aberdeen 0-1 Rangers

The wind was against The Dons in the second period, but were doing well to get into the forward areas more frequently. Archie Mair was rarely relied upon, but was soon picking the ball out his net for a second time as Rangers made it 2-0. With the game looking out of reach for the hosts, Connor Barron gave them belief with a lovely finish after 77 minutes. Ethan Ross, who was captaining the side, went on a mazy run down the left and cut the ball back across goal. It fell to Barron and he composed himself to slot home to set up an exciting finale.

The Dons nearly got that equaliser as Ethan Ross pushed forward. The ball unexpectedly broke to the midfielder on the byline, but his shot on the angle was well saved by the Rangers goalkeeper. Despite more pressure in the dying stages, The Dons were unable to break through and Rangers were able to run the clock down to hold out for a win.

Reaction

It’s the first defeat of the season for the U18 side and afterwards Scott Anderson spoke to afc.co.uk “It was a difficult start in terms of the mistake that leads to their first goal and we’re obviously disappointed with that. The conditions were difficult and that mistake takes the stuffing out us a bit. We responded well and the more the half went on the more we started to believe in ourselves. We kept Rangers at arms length in the second half with Archie not having a huge amount to do until the second goal.

It was our throw in and we left the space too open so that was disappointing. We’re pleased with the response and we had two U16’s come onto the pitch and they done really well. They gave us the spark and we managed to get ourselves back in it with the goal. We had a wee chance with Ethan Ross to equalise too. We’re disappointed with the result, but it’s one we’ll learn certain things from and move on.”

Full time: Aberdeen 1-2 Rangers

Aberdeen team:

Archie Mair

Danny Strachan

Mark McLaughlin

Jack Chesser

Kyle Dalling

Lloyd Robertson

Sean Linden

Connor Barron ( Calvin Ramsey 85)

Kieran Shanks (Michael Dangana 71)

Ethan Ross

Tyler Alexander (Kevin Hanratty 63)

Unused Sub:

Kyle Leiper

Seb Ross | Scotland U19 call up