Premier League Cup
Team: Salamon, Drewe, Jude-Boyd, Woodman, Rendall, Aoraha, Ajose, Dixon-Bonner, Kargbo, Pedder, Anthony (M).
Subs: Cant, Anthony (E), Rossi, Murphy, Bala
A welcome return at the Powerday Stadium for HamzadKargbo, who had been side-lined for some time.
This was a must-win game for both sides and it was the R’s who made a good start, which produced a number of corners.
On 13 minutes, Aaron Drewe’s cross was headed on to the crossbar by Hamzad Kargbo and I then noticed that the R’s striker may have been in an offside position?
Joseph Ajose was clearly tripped as he entered the box, but Mr Wood wasn’t interested! This resulted in Daniel Adu-Adjei bursting forward and as he was about to shoot, Arkell Jude-Boyd superbly won the ball to nulify the danger.
The Cherries then had another good opportunity to take the lead, but the ball was fired over the bar from just inside the box.
Rangers went ahead following a good move involving Aaron Drewe and Rafferty Pedder. The latter got to the bye-line and his cross was nodded in by Hamzad Kargbo from close-range.
Then, just a few minutes later, Rafferty Pedder superbly weaved his way into the box, where his angled shot hit the side-netting.
A ball out to Joseph Ajose who then went on to pull the trigger from just outside the area, which forced Billy Terrell down to put the ball behind for a corner.
On 44 minutes, following a cross into the box, HamzadKargbo appeared to get a smack in the face and he then required some treatment. Half-time: 1-0.
The home side soon doubled their lead four minutes into the second-half, following good work by Rafferty Pedder, which led to Joseph Ajose tapping the ball home.
In a high tempo encounter, Rangers added a third goal on 57 minutes. Joseph Ajose’s ball into the box found Elijah Dixon-Bonner and his shot took a slight deflection before entering the net.
On 64 minutes, Elijah Anthony was introduced at the expense of Aaron Drewe, which was later followed by Harry Murphy (72 mins) and Steven Bala (79 mins) replacing Elijah Dixon-Bonner and Hamzad Kargbo respectively.
Bournemouth pulled a goal back on 87 minutes when Kian Tydeman’s side-footed effort found the net courtesy of the post.
A very surprising six added minutes went up, which the R’s negotiated comfortably.
This superb win left Rangers second in the group and a place in the knock-out stages.
Steve Russell