Rangers Reserves fell to a 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Oriam yesterday.
The result is a setback on their quest to win the SPFL Reserve League, as Kilmarnock are now only two points off the summit with a game in hand.
However, it’s perhaps unsurprising that The Gers didn’t quite have enough to get a result yesterday.
The club website revealed that an incredible 16 players missed the fixture through ‘injury, illness or loan contract clauses.’
That’s almost an entire match day squad.
While prolific striker Andy Dallas played and scored, many regulars who have helped the side to the top of the league were missing.
One of whom was Dapo Mebude, the exciting young talent who signed a new contract on Saturday. As a result, ten players from the U18s were called up as replacements for those unavailable.
Graeme Murty did have the services of two first team players to call upon: Jordan Rossiter and Nikola Katic. Despite that, such a large number of absentees is always going to cause problems.
It’s a testament to the quality of the development setup that Rangers were able to compete at all. In fact, they controlled the game for much of the second half.
Yet, Hearts’ second came right at the death, ultimately snatching a point away from the valiant Gers.
Hopefully, this spate of injuries and unavailability is a one-off.
It would be a great achievement for the club to win the Reserve League, but to do that, they need to get their regulars back on the park.
