Rangers men against boys
Light Blues kids suffer Cove cave-in
FRASER FYVIE bagged a deadly double as 10-man Cove Rangers gave the Rangers B side a harsh lesson in their breeze to the semi-finals.
The home side showed their intent from the off and early goals from Fyvie and Mitch Megginson, from the spot, set the tempo of what was to come.
Young Robbie Fraser did pull one back to briefly give the Ibrox kids hope but that was quickly extinguished as Jamie Masson added a third for Cove before another Fyvie strike and a Leighton McIntosh effort sealed the deal for the Balmoral men – who also had Harry Milne sent off on the hour.
Cove manager Paul Hartley said: “We had done our homework and knew Rangers were a team who play with a lot of energy, so we knew it would take a top quality performance from us to stay in the competition.
“The players knew they would have to show similar qualities from Saturday again for us to get through a tricky cup tie against some of the best young players in the country.”
Cove went ahead inside the opening three minutes.
Milne unleashed a powerful drive that young Gers keeper Lewis Budinauckas could only parry into the path of Fyvie, who buried the rebound.
The young Gers conceded a penalty soon after. Ex-Aberdeen man Shay Logan went down inside the area after a push.
Megginson confidently assumed responsibility from 12 yards and made no mistake, tucking the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Rangers got back into the match in nine minutes after Logan twice cleared the ball off the line but Fraser managed to squeeze the ball in at the third attempt after a surging run and cut back by Ross McCausland.
Cove restored their two-goal cushion just four minutes later when Blair Yule drove down the right and his cross was inch perfect for Masson who netted.
The home side added a fourth in 33 minutes as Milne found Masson with a free-kick and he laid the ball off for Fyvie to fire the ball home.
Milne was dismissed after picking up a second caution but that didn’t deter his side grabbing a fifth when Iain Vigurs released sub McIntosh through on goal and he duly slotted home to wrap up the triumph.