Steve Burr’s new squad, including confirmed new signings Lewis Banks and Louis Briscoe, put in another fine performance as they over powered a young Birmingham City outfit, at Marston Road.

It took a few minutes for play to settle and Blues won the first corner of the game, that came to nothing, before Boro opened their account. A well worked move saw the ball moved out to the left and an excellent low cross was delivered by Alex Curtis and Kyle Perry hammered the ball past Siviter, with no hesitation.

Izak Reid then went close as Perry turned provider but his volley went wide of the upright. The pattern continued as Boro worked the ball forward and Sherratt turned and struck a sweet effort that Siviter pushed out from just under his bar.

It took Blues twenty two minutes to conjure their first effort as McCoy worked down the right but when he cut in and shot, Adam Whitehouse blocked the effort. Soon after, Baker took aim for their second effort but this went over the bar from 20 yards. Boro re-asserted themselves with a lot more pressure and Briscoe tried his luck with another long range effort.

Boro enjoyed the share of possession for the rest of the half and seemed stronger than their young opponents, the only misfortune being the precautionary withdrawal of Sherrat, as he was replaced by yet another promising young trialist.

The second half started brightly as the same trialist fired across goal on an early run. Briscoe again tried one of his speciality long range efforts but shook the woodwork from all of 30 yards. On 66 minutes the same trialist again attacked down the left and his perfect cross was met by Luke Jones and he planted a perfect header across the goal to give Boro a more than deserved 2-0 lead.

Boro were allowing Blues only intermittent spells of pressure but kept the game under control and the best they had to offer was three off target efforts from the sprightly Thompson-Sommers. Boro ended the game on top, as another trialist effort was fired in from long range and Siviter again tipped the effort away from under the bar.

A fourth victory in five games will please Steve Burr and his staff, as the squad already shows signs of consistency, not only in results but also pattern of play.

Att 394

Rangers line-up
Whitehouse, Banks, Curtis, Jones (replaced by trialist 3), Marshall, Coulson, Briscoe (replaced by trialist 4 (Levi)), Sherratt (replaced by trialist 1), Perry, I.Reid (replaced by Askey), Bailey-Jones (replaced by trialist 2)

Kidsgrove were, however, the first to threaten as they broke into the Rangers box and Williams was denied by Matt Yates, who was standing in for the injured Adam Whitehouse.

Rangers started to assert themselves on the game and when Abadaki was brought down, some 25 yards out, Briscoe stepped up to curl a glorious free kick into the top corner and give the visitors the lead. More pressure followed and the Rangers looked threatening before they won another free kick and Briscoe’s excellent back post delivery was met by Luke Jones, who planted a header across goal and into the far corner for a 2-0 lead.

They continued to press but Kidsgrove looked dangerous on the break and Jordan Cole curled an effort wide on one of those breaks. Rangers were the stronger of the teams and threatened at regular intervals as notable, Abadaki was denied on another foray.

Lingard and the early Kidsgrove sub’ both went close before Rangers grew stronger and finished the first half, stronger of the teams.
For the first time during pre season, Steve Burr continued into the second half with the same eleven that ended the first half. They started brightly and Briscoe fired a long range effort just over, before a combination ended in Bailey-Jones failing to get on the end of a great move as they continued to press.

On 57 minutes Kidsgrove had another break and as they worked it down the left, it was cut back for the lively Lingard to apply a tidy finish and reduce the deficit. Boro were not to be outdone, so continued to thwart ‘Grove as well as look threatening as numerous changes were rung by Manager Burr.

The side looked more youthful as the game wore on and young Lucas Burnett looked a pain in the side of the hosts’ defence. After one chance had gone close, the youngster was fed the ball on the corner of the box and as he wriggled inside, fed a well taken shot into the far corner for his first senior goal. The pace of the young Boro outfit now caused a few problems as they sprang the offside trap a few times and ended the game, looking quite promising.

That was reflected in Manager Steve Burr’s post match thoughts as he declared – ” It was a very tough game, today, which I expected. Could have scored more goals in the second half but, all in all, a very good work out, I thought we stood up to the physical challenge very well. Delighted with how we passed the ball around on a dry surface, also. We now face Port Vale, at home, on Tuesday which will be another good test for our boys.”

Report by Alan Gee