KIDS OUT OF CUP

Rangers under 18’s were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup tonight after a long, long penalty shoot out at Swindon Town.

After the rousing win at the weekend Joe Gallen made three changes to his side for this third round match.  

Chris Goodchild continued in goal whilst Lee Brown slotted into the back four alongside Karl Yelland, Aaron Goode and Andrew Howell. Matt O’Connell played on the right with Chris Arthur on the left whilst Matt O’Brien replaced Billy Coyne as Keiron Murtagh’s central midfield partner. Upfront saw Romone Rose paired with Ricky Sappleton, who returned to the starting line up at the expense of James Folkes. 

The home side gained an early advantage, taking the lead on the fifteen minute mark through Jack Hyde but Rangers struck back shortly after when Murtagh converted from Arthur’s cross to score his second in three games since signing on with Rangers.  

Try as they might Rangers couldn’t find a way through and things were made worse ten minutes from time when Romone Rose was shown a straight red card for a late challenge.  

Having been reduced to ten men The R’s managed to hang onto the scoreline throughout extra time and moved into a penalty shoot out for the right to face Yeovil in the fourth round.  

However it wasn’t to be and after a mammoth shoot out, that included successful kicks from both goalkeepers, Rangers eventually succumbed on tenth round of spot kicks.  

It’s a shame we didn’t get a cup run this season but there’s no time to dwell on it, next up in the South East Conference is a trip to league leaders Colchester United. Rangers are level on points with the Essex side and a win on Saturday would see us top the league.  

QPR: Goodchild, Yelland, Brown, Goode, Howell, O’Connell, O’Brien, Murtagh, Arthur (Maguire), Sappleton (Folkes), Rose.