Rangers see off DC

Banbridge Rangers U12s 7

RANGERS U12s travelled to Lord Lurgan Park this week for the second fixture of the season.

Both teams started well, with a new DC team who were much improved on last season with a number of new players joining their ranks.

It was a very close contest in the opening 15 minutes with both teams making ambitious runs on both flanks.

Donegal Celtic opened their account on seventeen minutes with a long ball down the left hand side beating the Rangers defence. Heads didn’t drop however and Banbridge showed some lack of discipline in holding their shape which meant the boys were going to be up for a tough test.

Banbridge Rangers were rewarded for their persistence on 20 minutes when Halloway was taken down in the box. Captain McCullough stepped up and drove the penalty home only for the referee to call a retake. All credit to the young defender, he took the retake and blasted the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

DC got restored their lead just before the half time whistle when the DC striker got past Adair on the right and slotted the ball past new signing Robson.

The second half was always going to be a tough test, as DC looked fit and hungry for the win and continued to press the Rangers defence. Burns and McCullough did well on a number of occasions but couldn’t curtail the striking presence of DC and went a further two goals down after 10 minutes into the second half.

At 4-1 it wasn’t going to get any easier, however McAllister and Flack made a real difference with a couple of shots going narrowly wide. Flack was involved in a neat 1-2 with Joel Reid which resulted in the second goal for Rangers with Alex Cochrane making a timely run into the box beating the keeper convincingly.

At 4-2 Banbridge Rangers continued to press but Celtic took full advantage of space scoring another couple of goals including a penalty just before the final whistle.