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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Rangers B strike after 19 seconds on road to defeating East Kilbride

East Kilbride boss Kevin Rutkiewicz insists they "gift-wrapped" Rangers B their 4-3 victory in last night's Lowland League clash - in which the Ibrox outfit netted after just 19 seconds.

Kilby had a nightmare start when Zac Lovelace pounced an error to open the scoring with the first attack of the game, before Kane Ritchie-Hosler and Robbie Fraser had the young Gers 3-0 up after 39 minutes.

A Neil McLaughlin penalty on the stroke of half-time gave Kilby some hope of a comeback, only for Connor Young to make it 4-1 after an hour.

A late rally saw McLuaghlin strike again and Declan McManus netted in the 90th minute, but it was too little too late as Rangers held out for victory.

And Rutkiewicz, whose side had opened the campaign with a 3-2 win away to Tranent on Saturday, was far from happy with the display.

He told the club's media: "Rangers have played well, I'm not going to deny that, but we have gift-wrapped them the game.

"I had 19 seconds on my watch [for the first goal] and three mistakes lead to a really soft goal.

"Players have got to make better decisions and execute passes together, but I'm not going to speak about individuals.

East Kilbride boss Kevin Rutkiewicz (PHOTOGRAPH-IE)

"We've got to win collectively and lose collectively. I'll take the heat for that.

"The players have been great and they showed a bit of fight.

"Rangers played some decent stuff and they were always a threat. They caused us problems on the counter attack and I'm disappointed with that, but the show must go on.

"Three goals at home and not getting anything out of the game is hard to swallow."

It doesn't get any easier for the K-Park side as Hearts B come calling on Saturday, but Rutkiewicz is delighted to have a game so soon after a painful defeat.

He added: "It's good there is a game so quick. We will recover the boys and we'll come in on Thursday.

"Rangers probably expolited our newness as a team there. There was maybe a lack of cohesion and Hearts aren't going to take it easy on us.

"They are going to be very similar to Rangers - high energy, high quality - and if we start the same we will be a goal down early again."

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.

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