Adam Miller made his first appearance in the blue and white hoops and there was another game for Arthur Gnohere as he continued his comeback from his tweaked ACL. Brighton looked the more dangerous side from the off and their centre back pairing of the unsteady Kerry Mayo and Gary Elphick were making short work of young strikers Luke Townsend and Shabazz Baidoo.

At the other end things were not so comfortable for Gnohere and his young partner Pat Kanyuka. The Brighton goal came midway through the half and was the result of a horrendous mistake from Gnohere. He had already sent one weak header back toward Cole allowing Gary Hart to nip in and get a shot away. Cole saved well but when Arthur did it again barely five minutes later he was not so fortunate. This time Hart didn't strike the ball as cleanly but that probably helped as it bobbled past the helpless Cole.

Miller was starting to find his feet now and he set off on three driving runs at the heart of the Brighton defence. From the first he shot wide, from the second he released Townsend, who then shot wide himself. From the third he drew a fairly agricultural challenge from Elphick for which the defender was cautioned.

After the break it was much of the same as Brighton made most of the running. Cole had to be alert to deny Hart again before Miller made way after picking up a couple of knocks. He had grown into the game and gave a pretty good account of himself. Not long after Rangers were forced into a second change when Arthur crumpled in a heap following a seemingly innocuous challenge. He was clearly in agony and clutching the problem knee. He was withdrawn and it is now a matter of waiting to see what the prognosis is. In truth though, things didn't look great.

Rangers did force some late pressure on the Brighton goal and this seemed to coincide with Donnelly being moved into a striking role and Branco starting to play a bit. Donnelly drilled one shot straight at the keeper and sub Sonny Farr also shot wide when well placed. The threat from Brighton was still evident though and Cole had to be alert once again to save from Maketa Molango.

The 1-0 scoreline was probably a fair one as Rangers never managed to get going. This reserve team is so lacking in leadership on the park with injuries to first teamers that they are finding things tough. It is all a good learning experience though and it won't hurt them to come up against bigger, older, more experienced opponents.

There were few plusses in truth. Miller looked good once he had settled in, Jake Cole made a series of good stops but had little chance with the goal and Daniel Murphy was solid at left back. The star of the show for Rangers though was Pat Kanyuka. The rangy centre back looks to be a real find and if he can keep progressing at a decent rate then he could turn out to be real asset.