A round-up of Gers’ youth games

Banbridge Rangers Under 14s 5

BANBRIDGE Rangers U14s picked up their first win off the season in their second scheduled league game on Saturday past with a confident 5-1 victory away to Markethill.

Rangers came out off the blocks hungry for the ball and almost opened the scoring after ninety seconds through Bradley Harper who had his shot well saved by the Markethill keeper.

The opening goal arrived after six minutes through the enigmatic Simon McAllister who controlled a deep cross well at the back post before picking his spot to give the Gers the lead.

Banbridge Rangers were moving the ball well and were rewarded with a second goal on nineteen minutes through Alex Cochrane who unleashed a thunderbolt into the net from over 20 yards out.

Bradley Harper added a third goal for Rangers on the half hour mark after a quick counter attack which saw Harper have his initial strike saved but he instinctively followed up and slotted home the rebound. Markethill scored right on the cusp off half time when their striker managed to keep in a wayward pass and set up their midfielder to finish and leave it 3-1 at the interval.

After half time Banbridge Rangers regained their three goal advantage through Jamie Flack who converted well from a Matthew Holloway cross. After setting up three goals during the match Holloway then added his name to the score sheet with a tap in after the keeper mishandled a Jamie Adair corner kick. Rangers controlled the game until the finish with some impressive spells off passing with Alex Cochrane dominating in midfield and shining in an overall superb team performance.

Banbridge Rangers Under 12s 3

Armagh City Under 12s 7

Rangers dropped points in the league for the first time this season when they came undone against a very good side from Armagh City at the Tech pitch on Saturday morning.

Banbridge Rangers went into the game as the top side in the Division and got off to a flying start when Matthew Hillis blasted into the roof off the net after some good link up play from Kris Thompson and Luke Brown in the centre off the park.

After the goal Rangers fell asleep and Armagh equalised soon after and proceeded to take the lead 15 minutes into the game. The Rangers players weren’t passing and competing with any great confidence and Armagh took full advantage scoring twice more before the interval.

The second half saw Banbridge Rangers come into the game more and despite conceding again they never gave up with Josh Crawford forcing the keeper into a superb save midway through the half.

Two minutes later Matthew Hillis was upended in the box and Crawford stepped forward to reduce the arrears and net Rangers second goal off the morning.

A good move down the right hand side almost immediately saw the ball played forward to Hillis who was fouled for the second time in minutes inside the box with Luke Brown striking home the third goal for Rangers. Despite the late comeback there was too much to do for Rangers and Armagh finished the game with all three points and a clear margin off victory.

Rangers Youth Academy Round Up - Banbridge Rangers Under 11s scored twice without reply on Saturday morning when they travelled to Lurgan Junior High to take on Portadown Youth in the Mid Ulster Youth League.

Goals from Ben Wilson and Sam McKinstry capped a very good all round performance from the Rangers side.

The U10s also travelled to take on Portadown with Josh Bell netting Rangers only goal off the game early on.

The U8s were at Cheney Park with two teams out on show with Matthew Hampton and Llwyd Jones dictating the play superbly with the goal off the morning being scored by Harry McKinstry who let fly into the top corner with a sweet strike from his left foot.

Over the next few weeks the U9s and U7s will hopefully be joining the Mid Ulster GDC with growing numbers at training on Monday and Thursday evenings.

All boys and girls of Primary school age are more than welcome at the sessions at Cheney Park which take place between 6-7pm.