Rangers U18’s side crashed out of the FA Youth Cup following a 3-1 reverse at the hands of Southampton. The big spending south coast side were more than a match for Rangers both in terms of ability and physical size and the result was a fair one in truth. Things could have been different though with a half decent ref.

Rangers lined up with Sean Thomas in goal behind a back four of John Fletcher, Pay Kanyuka, Ryan Johnson and Daniel Murphy. The midfield four was Andrew Judge, Scot Mulholland, Scott Donnelly and Sonny Farr with Shabazz Baidoo and Luke Townsend up front.

The first thing you noticed about the two teams was the fact that almost to a man the Rangers lads were dwarfed by their opponents. Centre half Martin Cranie and strikers Leon Best and David McGoldrick in particular were huge and the only player of a similar size in our ranks was big Pat Kanyuka. To be fair though it was not a case that The Saints just played to their obvious size advantage, they got the ball on the deck and shifted it very well.

Nathan Dyer was showing Fletcher a clean pair of heels almost every time he received the ball and the dangerous Best shot for goal on a number of occasions in the early stages. Despite having more of the ball the goal threat was not really there with every shot being saved with ease by Thomas.

Rangers took the lead against the run of play when Baidoo, a former Arsenal trainee, turned neatly on the edge of the six yard box and managed to squeeze the ball past McNeil in the Southampton goal. The R’s players were elated and they seemed to lose their composure despite the best efforts of Ryan Johnson to cool the celebrations. Barely five minutes later and Southampton were level.

A ball was played through from midfield and Dyer, despite looking suspiciously offside, charged onto the ball and bravely went in with Thomas. He lifted the ball over the advancing keeper and despite the efforts of Kanyuka to keep it out it drifted into the net. It was a very good finish, not least for the fact that he was well and truly clattered as he tucked it away.

Rangers were pleased to get in at the break on terms and started the second half brightly with Baidoo in particular causing problems with some blistering direct running. This lad has pace to burn and if he can beef himself up a little he could become a decent player.

The second Southampton goal was a sloppy affair and came from poor marking at a set piece. An out swinging corner was fired in and the R’s defence seemed to leave it to each other and there was a Saint on hand to tuck it away. It was difficult to see exactly who got the final touch but it was easy to see that this was not a goal that will have pleased Joe Gallen. Against a team as good as Southampton it is criminal not to mark up on a set piece.

Rangers came back though and had a ten minute spell where the Saints were penned back. There were two good shouts for a penalty in this time and a decent referee may have given at least one of them. Unfortunately we had a Mr R D Smith in charge of this one and to say he was decidedly average is an insult to all the other decidedly average refs we have seen this season. First Johnson was clearly blocked off as he attacked a ball and then Kanyuka was shoved in the back as he went for a header. Smith was no more than ten yards away from either incident and decided that he would ignore both.

He angered the R’s fans during the first incident when he left to R’s players prone in the Saints box to allow them the chance to counter attack. I thought that if somebody had a head injury the ref was duty bound to stop things. Mind you, it is fairly easy to miss these things with your head stuck firmly up your posterior.

There was one final shout for a penalty when there was a blatant handball as Baidoo attempted to shoot at goal. Once again referee Smith chose to ignore it, he surely wouldn’t want one of the best youth sides in the country being knocked out at lowly QPR, that just wouldn’t do.

The young Rangers continued to pile forward though, desperate for an equaliser and it was no surprise when Southampton hit them on the break for the third. There seemed to be Saints winging in from all angles and the ball was eventually squared for Best to poke into the unguarded net.

This was a fair result in the end and Rangers were outclassed by their bigger, better and more expensive opponents. There is no shame in going down to a team that was assembled for more than our first team manager has had to spend in the last few seasons.

QPR: Thomas, Fletcher, Murphy, Mulholland, Kanyuka, Johnson, Judge, Donnelly, Baidoo, Townsend, Farr (O’Connell). Subs not used: Heselton, Craig, Barnett, Munday.