First Team
Match Report | Rangers 1-1 Dundee United
23rd November 2024
It was a quick turnaround for the Young Terrors after their battling draw with Celtic on Friday, as they welcomed Aberdeen to the RPC for a fourth versus seventh clash in the CAS Under-18s Elite League.
Last time the sides met was in the Granite City, the match finishing 1-1 after Stuart Heenan’s opener was cancelled out by an 86th-minute Dons leveller.
Ryan Moon made three changes to the side which claimed a point at Lennoxtown, with two trialists and Craig Moore entering the fray as United maintained their 5-3-2 formation, with Heenan leading the line and O’Donnell once again being deployed as a central center-back.
United were under the cosh from the start with Jamie McCabe being called into action after just 60 seconds. Adam Emslie ran parallel to the box before rolling the ball into Finlay Marshall who in turn threaded it into the area for the advancing Alfie Bavidge, his shot smothered by the United keeper who spread himself well to clear the danger.
O’Donnell did well to intercept a dangerous forward pass by Dons captain Dylan Lobban but had his pocket picked by Emslie inside the area. The winger only had McCabe to beat but wastefully fired his effort into the side-netting from ten yards.
On 19 minutes, Liam Harvey found himself completely unmarked in the box but failed to find the net with his free header, diverting it straight at the keeper.
Aberdeen’s left-winger Emslie continued to cause problems for United, again combining with his colleague Bavidge who failed to beat the ever-present McCabe between the sticks with his left-footed shot. He then completely miscued his strike wide when one-on-one after effective link-up play between the same duo saw him buy time and space in the tangerine box.
United finally managed to escape Aberdeen’s intense press and gained their first real sighting of goal. Sam Lovie sent a pinpoint delivery into Rory MacLeod who brought it under control expertly with his left foot. Instead of shooting, he picked out a Young Terrors trialist ten yards from goal but he saw his effort on the turn blocked by Taylor Mason. Immediately after, Lovie’s crosses proved dangerous once more as he landed the ball onto the head of Heenan who outjumped his six-foot-five opposite number to cannon the ball back off the post.
United were now firmly in control and, on the half-hour mark, they took the lead. Heenan received the ball on the edge of the box and chopped inside Blair Mckenzie before reversing his shot back across the wrong-footed keeper into the net.
They could’ve doubled their lead just two minutes later as Jacob Comerford strolled out of defence and played in his trialist teammate who struck the near-post with venom, the ball somehow not crossing the line as it drifted across goal.
United surrendered possession cheaply on the halfway line, allowing Aberdeen’s number nine Harvey to isolate O’Donnell and go for goal, only for McCabe’s heroics to continue as he made yet another sensational save with his feet.
However, the hosts’ lead wouldn’t remain intact for long as their opponents equalised just one minute after this near-miss. After trying to play their way out of Aberdeen’s press, a United clearance cannoned back off a blue shirt and dropped kindly for Harvey who blasted the ball into the far corner on the half-volley.
In added time at the end of the first half, Jamie Shingler pulled a save out of the top drawer when he sprung to his right to deny Donald’s front-post flick after he met Lovie’s cross on the full.
The run of play inverted back towards United’s goal after the break. Marshall met a second ball in the middle of the park with his head and it ran all the way through for 9, his snapshot skidding narrowly wide of the far post.
Bavidge then received a knockdown from Emslie and cushioned the ball before going for goal, the strike failing to trouble the well-placed McCabe.
Miller Thomson was an attacking outlet throughout the match, as his driving runs from right-wing back frequently moved United up the park. The 17-year-old found himself high up in the channel and delivered to the back stick for his opposite number Lovie. He set Heenan up with a feathered lay-off, but the diminutive winger found both his close-range shots blocked by the Aberdeen centre-half partnership of Finlay Murray and McKenzie.
McCabe came to the rescue on the 65th minute, this time saving from his own man. Lobban found a pocket in the half-space and drove forward under no pressure from the United defence. He eventually sent the ball in between Lovie and Donald for his onrushing colleague down the right who flashed a first-time cross into the box. O’Donnell made first contact but inadvertently sent the ball towards his own goal, McCabe producing a fine reaction save to paw it to safety.
Thomson had a strike from distance that cracked the outside of the post ten minutes later, then MacLeod was presented with a clear-cut opportunity after free-flowing, one touch football down the left but failed to connect properly with his shot and sent it spinning wide.
With just over five to play, Aberdeen struck the killer blow. Marshall found substitute Alfie Stewart in behind the United midfield who was allowed to turn, stride forward and rifle an unstoppable effort into the top right corner from 30 yards to win it for his side.
United threw bodies forward in search of an equaliser and came agonisingly close to finding it when a trialist’s looping effort from distance bounced off the top of the bar and behind for a goal-kick.
This was the last chance for either side and the visitors headed back to the north-east with the three points but still remain a further five behind the Young Terrors. The games are coming thick and fast for Moon’s men, as they have a chance to put the defeat behind them quickly with Hearts the next outfit to travel to the RPC on Friday.
