Rangers Colts now sit just 90 minutes from a Hampden final after beating Wrexham in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup at Ibrox this afternoon thanks to goals from Jamie Barjonas and Nathan Young-Coombes.
The Gers dominated the early play without ever really looking like threatening the Wrexham goal and Christian Dibble, son of ex-Ger Andy, only had one save to make in the opening 15 minutes.
The noisy backing from the healthy crowd inside Ibrox seemed to spur the Colts on, with Jamie Barjonas and Lewis Mayo dictating the tempo of the game from midfield.
Murty’s side had a succession of corners in the opening quarter but there was a real lack of quality from the set-pieces to let Wrexham off the hook.
There was an injury worry for Rangers as Nathan Patterson went to ground with nobody near him but the full-back was ok to return after some treatment on the sidelines.
Barjonas was next to try his luck as the Gers kept the pressure up but the midfielder’s curling strike went just the wrong side of the far post.
It took almost 30 minutes for Wrexham to register their first real attempt but when they finally did, it was a good one as Leighton McIntosh forced a fantastic save from Kieran Wright as his volley looked destined to sneak in at the back post.
Patterson’s return from injury didn’t last long as the youngster was forced off with Nathan Young-Coombes replacing him and forcing a bit of a reshuffle for Murty’s side.
Patterson’s spot at right-back was filled by Flanagan, who in turn saw his berth at left-back filled by James Maxwell, that meant Nathan Young-Coombes played as a central striker and Serge Atakayi move to the wing.
The changes didn’t seem to make any difference to the Gers with Barjonas opening the scoring just moments later to massively increase the volume inside Ibrox.
The midfielder saw his shot trickle in at the back post as Dibble scrambled to retrieve it but he couldn’t keep it out and the Colts too a well-deserved lead going into the break.
The second half saw Wrexham try to make much more of a go of things as the visitors finally started to try and get forward and break through the Rangers lines.
Despite their renewed impetus, the National League side struggled to get through the Gers defence as Breen and Edmundson were more than capable of dealing with them.
The tempo of the game fell away in the middle of the second half with both sides slack in possession and gifting the ball away several times before it settled back into a bit more of a rhythm.
As the clock ticked away, the Colts began to reassert their dominance and take control of the tempo as they looked to see the game out.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Nathan Young-Coombes made it 2-0 when he stole to ball from Dibble and rolled the ball home. The Wrexham keeper had failed to hold onto a Barjonas shot and Young-Coombes showed great awareness to get in and nick the ball.
The result means the Colts will now face either Raith Rovers, Partick Thistle or the winners of Inverness CT v Clyde, with the draw later this week.