| YOUTHFUL R'S IN WORCESTER
STALEMATE
Timmy Breacker
took an extremely youthful side to Worcester City last night for a
game that turned out to be a damp, or should that be sopping wet,
squib for those in attendance. The match was literally men against
boys as Rangers fielded a mixture of squad players and U-17's.
The first half was almost constant
one-way traffic in favour of Worcester. They seemed to adapt to the
blustery conditions far better than the younger Rangers lads and
most of the "experienced" players spent a lot of time mopping up
errors by their more junior counterparts.
Chris Day was the busier of the two
keepers and will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet on his
birthday. He probably wasn't so happy about spending his birthday in
the pissing rain in the middle of Worcestershire but I am sure he
won't have dwelled on that for too long!
It took until five minutes before the
break for Rangers to force the Worcester keeper into a save of any
note. Richard Pacquette picked the ball up wide on the right and fed
a neat ball into the box. Young striker Lee Barnett got in a
snapshot on the volley that was well saved.
The second half saw Rangers get into
the game more and Pacquette started to dominate in forward areas. He
was linking up well with Oli and Daly on the right and despite his
defensive tendencies, Marcus bean tried to link up whenever he
could. He, was given this freedom by his partner in midfield, who
was an absolute animal! Patrick Ada tackled anything that moved and
despite being a youth team player, I assume, he didn't mind letting
people know he was about. Whilst he is very raw and a little
impetuous at the moment, I think there is definitely something there
to work with.
Welsh winger Ben Jones, currently on a
six-week trial from Merthyr Tydfil, stung the keepers hands with a
thirty yard first time drive. In truth he did little else and seemed
to be brushed off the ball easily by a fairly sizeable right back.
He made way with twenty minutes left
and Martin Rowlands was introduced for his R's debut. He immediately
wanted the ball to feet and looked to link up with his front men. He
looks a very confident lad and didn't mind taking people on. Towards
the end of the game he fired in a left footed shot that was easily
saved and also produced a sublime piece of skill to wrong foot one
man and nutmeg another in one fluid movement. With a bit more
fitness behind him he has the look of a fine addition to the squad.
Things were not all Rangers though and
Day still had to be alert to make a number of comfortable saves.
There was one moment of panic when he had to go full stretch to palm
away a cross but other than that he was rarely tested.
I am not sure the coaching staff will
have learnt an awful lot from this game. As I mentioned the lad Ada
looks to have promise and right back Chris Mills, a second half
substitute, seemed comfortable on the ball. It was a shame for the
fair number of R's fan's that made the trip up that there wasn't a
chance to see a few more well established names. Those that were
there will certainly agree that the 0-0 score line told the tale of
the game.
simon@qprnet.com |
