Scottish FA Youth Cup Final
Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen
Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Rangers and Aberdeen met at Hampden Park for the Scottish FA Youth Cup Final. On the road to the final, Rangers beat St Andrews United, Fraserburgh, Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United while Aberdeen progressed past Caledonian Braves, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Ayr United to book their place in the final.

Rangers were crowned 2023-24 Scottish FA Youth Cup winners following their 2-1 comeback victory over Aberdeen.

Scorers

Rangers 2 (Findlay Curtis 70’, Josh Gentles 76’)

Aberdeen 1 (Timothy Akindileni 65’)

As It Happened

The first half was a fairly evenly contested competition with both teams building into the game and having a few great chances before the break. A great run from Fletcher Boyd was denied by Mason Munn before a Zander Hutton effort at the other end of the pitch went narrowly past the right hand post to see the sides into half time on level terms.

It was Aberdeen who came out strong in the second half, creating a number of great chances in the opening period. A Brendan Hamilton free kick went narrowly over the crossbar before an Alfie Bavidge effort from inside the box was pushed away by a fingertip save from Mason Munn. A number of quick succession dangerous corners followed from captain Alfie Stewart however they were cleared and the score remained 0-0.

Aberdeen opened the scoring in the 65th minute when another dangerous corner from Alfie Stewart made its way into the box. The corner was headed away by Findlay Curtis but only as far as Findlay Marshall who headed the ball down towards goal and Timothy Akindileni, who was in the path of the header, tapped the ball home from a couple of yards out.

Aberdeen didn’t have the lead of the game for long as Rangers equalised 5 minutes after the opener. They were awarded a penalty following a hand ball from Lewis Carrol within the box. Findlay Curtis stepped up to take the penalty and slotted it into the bottom left corner of the net.

Rangers piled on the pressure following their equaliser and got their reward in the 76th minute when their initial corner was cleared by the Aberdeen defender however the ball fell to Josh Gentles on the edge of the box who fired a fantastic first time strike into the net to give his side the victory.

Line-ups

Rangers: Munn, Hutton, Scott, Grant, Wylie (McClure 62’), Campbell, Nsio (Burnside 90’), Robertson (Adamson 70’), Gentles (Eadie 90’), Curtis, Stevens

Unused Substitutes: Halliwell, Kerr, Willox

Aberdeen: Vitols, Watson, Hamilton, Marshall, Carrol, Stewart, Wilson (Masson 86’), Akindileni, Boyd, Mackie, Bavidge

Unused Substitutes: Simpson, Ross, Clark, Teasdale, Stephen, Kondolo