Rangers were taught a lesson, on numerous levels, as they were overcome by their full-time opponents. Leicester City U23s visited Marston Road as part of the Josh Gordon deal, who has recently extended his deal.

However, fortune could have been on Rangers’ side as early as the fifth minute when Leicester defender Alex Pascanu misplaced a back pass and that had ‘keeper Viktor Johannson back pedalling to clear the ball as he chased back to his goal.
The Foxes started to move the ball around and in the tenth minute, Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall struck a straight forward shot from the edge of the box and keeper Mare Deczki failed to handle the ball as it slipped through his grasp and into the corner for a one-nil lead to the visitors.

Rangers briefly hit back with a decent move, but Cuff sliced his shot wide. Leicester started to get into their flow as Layton Ndukwu fired a free kick into the wall before shooting over, while Ryan Loft was released down the right channel before firing across goal. More good approach play saw a Loft backheel easily saved, before the second goal arrived as Ndukwu approached Rangers’ box unchallenged and struck a shot into the bottom corner.

A further shot from Loft was well saved and the follow up was off target and another good move followed, with Josh Gordon involved, as Ndukwu again fired just off target. Leicester’s good ball play was interspersed with spells of Rangers possession that unluckily had no end results. Louis Briscoe stepped up to fire in a long-range free kick and this proved to be their only on target effort of the first half, as Leicester finished on top with a Loft effort saved just before half time.

The second half started in similar fashion as Josh Knight shot over, before his next effort was saved, soon after. With a couple of half time changes in place, Rangers started to move the ball a little e better and enjoyed a spell of possession.

In the sixty-forth minute another move into the final third saw Loft increase the lead to three-nil as Loft found the top corner with a shot from inside the box. Rangers rallied and a move down the right culminated in a second half trialist cut in and just cleared the bar with his effort.

The dangerous Ndukwu threatened again as he hit the side netting from a 25-yard free kick, then a run and shot across goal. Loft was then denied by a double block from Luke jones and Deczki before the same player broke into the box and was pushed over giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot and Ndukwu made no mistake converting for his second of the night.
Rangers had the last effort of the game as Abadaki was brought down and Green’s free kick was caught under the bar as the whistle was blown for full time.

Manager Steve Burr was pragmatic in his summary of the evening – “It was a really good work out against an excellent side, with all their players pushing for a place in the Premier League. I was disappointed with the first two goals as they knocked the stuffing out of us but we had to acknowledge we were up against a very good outfit that would punish us at every chance. We now look to our final friendly at Market Drayton and I still have another couple of players to talk to about deals.”

You can come along to Marston Road on Thursday 16th August from 6.30pm where there will be a photo shoot, an open training session and a ‘meet the manager and players’ session.

Attendance 581

Rangers went into this game with their local neighbours, high on confidence after winning four out of five of their pre-season games, but did not get things all their own way. With Tom Thorley, Adam Whitehoue and Jack Sherratt missing through Holidays and injury, others again had a chance to stake their claims for a place in the team.

Chasetown were first to push forward and forced the first of many corners after six minutes. On Rangers’ first foray, Malakai had a shot blocked but that turned out to be one of a number of efforts by ‘Boro. Abadaki, then chased down a defender to win the ball back but his shot flew narrowly wide. Scholars had their share of possession but without serious efforts, they forced six corners in the first twenty minutes, or so.

Abadaki was again in the action as he attacked down the left and when he pulled back for Perry, his effort was deflected wide. Boro fans then knew they could be in danger as Chasetown won a free kick outside the box. and when former Boro Man Jack Langston lined up a shot, he stepped up and his effort whistled just over the crossbar. Perry was again blocked after good approach work from Curtis, before Briscoe put in Banks, for what was one of four first half efforts for the youngster – three just off target and another forcing an excellent save from Pond, in the home goal.

Rangers continued to see a lot of the ball, while Chasetown were limited to a couple of tame shots from Wynter and Thomas, as well as a through ball that found the side netting courtesy of defenders, Boro trialist keeper and attacker, Nduna.

Half time saw a number of changes with Rangers bringing on 6 players. While Boro showed first with Bailey-Jones having a good shot saved by Pond, Chasetown took advantage of things being reorganised as Nduna nipped in on a short back pass, eluding the incoming defenders and squaring the ball back for Whieldon to give the home side a one-nil lead.  For the remainder, the balance was similar to the first half, but punctuated with changes and water breaks, in the Summer heat. Boro chances were of a better quality but the finishing touch lacked, Cuff fired wide after some neat play, Captain Jones headed wide from a corner, Bailey-Jones hit the bar from a narrow angle, before Cuff had another powerful effort across goal saved by Pond. In response, Chasetown forced an excellent save from Rangers’ trialist keeper, as well as forcing corners from another couple of goalmouth scraps where Boro safely cleared their lines.

Lessons learned in defeat but no disgrace in losing to a team largely still together after their lay-off push last season and sure to be competitive again, while the new Boro squad has two more weeks to gel.

Starting line-up

Rangers – Trialist, Askey, Jones, Marshall, Banks, Coulson, Briscoe, Malakai, Perry, Abadaki, Curtis.