We don’t have an official time recorded, but we’re pretty sure Rangers scored their fastest ever goal on their way to beating Sherburn White Rose 6-3 in this post-season friendly.

We’d like to say the move came straight off the training ground. And in principle, it did! Our players found a way to score by using each other to move the ball up the pitch.

From kick-off, Logan passed back to Josh, who passed to Henry, who passed back to Josh, who moved it onto Logan… who prodded past the keeper to open the scoring without a Sherburn player even touching the ball.

Ten seconds? Who knows. Once we got our noses in front, we never looked back and ran out comfortable winners.

Stan began the game in goal with Harry, Henry, Joshua (captain) and Logan outfield. After firing a warning shot soon after, Henry put us two up with a fine finish into the far corner — which also found a hole in the net! Or maybe his shot was too hot for the net to handle.

Joshua then added a third just before the break, firing home after winning the ball back just outside the area.

The second quarter was packed with incident… well, injuries. First, Logan had to be replaced by Freddie after he took a knock to the knee, then Harry replaced Josh who’d acquired a dead leg from a heavy challenge.

Cian was just getting into the game when he and a Sherburn player tangled legs and fell, by which time Joshua’s dead leg was very much alive and he was able to come back on.

It was a goalless quarter and so the players returned to the bench 3-0 up at half time.

Cian took the gloves in the third quarter as Stan moved into midfield. Logan had recovered from his knee injury to start, while Josh sat in defence and Harry was given the chance to play as a striker.

Stan and Logan both created numerous chances but couldn’t quite find the finishes their build-up play deserved. Despite a lot of Rangers pressure it was Sherburn who scored midway through the quarter.

However, Stan soon grabbed a goal by weaving through challenges and firing low into the corner to restore our three-goal lead.

There was just time for Sherburn to hit back and make it 4-2 before the referee blew his whistle to end the third quarter.

Rangers began the final quarter quickly, with Logan turning home a loose ball to make it 5-2. Some half chances followed for Sherburn, but Freddie closed down expertly.

And when Sherburn did find a route through to goal, Josh parried a firmly-hit shot away and the hosts squandered the chance to reduce the deficit from the rebound.

Then Cian’s pressing in midfield saw him win the ball and burst through on goal. He was too fast for the chasing defenders as he closed in on the keeper and prodded the ball under him to grab his debut goal!

Six goals for Rangers! And five different scorers on a day when we were without our two most prolific strikers.

With the game all but won, Sherburn never gave up and were able to grab a consolation goal at the end to complete the scoring at 6-3.

Player of the Match went to Henry. Not only did he score a goal, but he also pressed well, won possession back in key areas and created chances for other players. It was a great all-round performance!

Harry covered a lot of ground, particularly when playing further forward, and helped his teammates out in defence when needed. Freddie’s positional awareness stunted many Sherburn counterattacks, while Stan carried the ball up field expertly to help relieve pressure from the home team.

Joshua once again filled many positions, including keeper, and supported both defence and attack with his non-stop running and popped up with another goal.

Cian’s pressing and debut goal was a joy to watch, while Logan was unplayable — particularly in the first quarter, where his fast start caught Sherburn cold. That’s another two goals for him!

The result was satisfying but the performance was even more so. The players were more focused in their warm-ups, and we think this contributed to our fast start.

They also listened really well and took on board our messages during the game. Their passing as a team is slowly improving (the first goal a case in point!).

Thank you to everyone who came and supported us. We hope you are as proud as we are of how every player is improving and gaining confidence. Their development is more important than the result — but it’s always nice to win!

We hope to see you all next Saturday for the end-of-season presentation, where we can celebrate all we’ve achieved at U8 level!