Rangers + Celtic loan aces collide in five-goal thriller as boss miffed by Hoops talent tackle on ex Ibrox man
Rangers and Celtic loan players collided in a battle at Hampden Park in the Scottish Championship.
A host of Rangers and Celtic loan players came to blows on Tuesday night in the Scottish Championship as one star’s foul causes a level of frustration.
Queen’s Park played host to Ayr United in a crucial clash, with the Spiders gunning for a promotion play-off spot and the Honest Men in hot pursuit of the title. It looked as if it was going to be the hosts won the day with Jack Turner and former Rangers striker Zak Rudden firing them two goals in front.
Then Ayr came storming back and Marco Rus brought one goal back. Ben Dempsey and Curtis Main then struck twice inside four minutes to seal a dramatic 3-2 win for Ayr. In the Queen’s corner, Rangers talents Leon King and Adam Devine started the match alongside Ibrox academy graduate Rudden
A player on loan from Celtic, Adam Montgomery, was a sub. Ayr are managed by Celtic hero Scott Brown, who started the game with Hoops goalkeeper Joshua Clarke and defender Lenny Agbaire. Ibrox loanee Cole McKinnon formed part of his midfield while a Steven Gerrard era Rangers signing, Jake Hastie, came off the bench as a range of Old Firm connections played their part in this thriller.
Celtic icon’s Ayr United verdict
Hoops icon Brown told club media: “The subs won us this game, they brought speed and quality on the ball. Every three points is huge for us, you lose a game and you lose ground. We have put ourselves in a really good position at this moment in time but there is still a long way to go.
The first half there wasn’t too much to cheer about but even when we went 2-0 down you could still hear our fans. Our fans stuck with us and that’s what we are going to need to the end of the season, it spurs us on. We have a huge game against Morton, we have struggled to beat them this season, we need to make sure we are ready and organised. They’ve obviously had a few more days to recover, we need to make sure there are a few fresh faces in that starting 11, that’s for sure.”
New Rangers loanee role
Meanwhile, speaking before the game kicked off at the national stadium, Queen’s Park manager Callum Davidson revealed he is planning to use central defender Leon King as a midfield player. He told the Scottish Sun: “Leon King, I brought him in probably predominantly as a midfielder for me. He can give us that industry. Those kind of defensive qualities you need when the pitches start to deteriorate a little bit.”
He added on the game that Celtic loanee Agbaire fouled ex Rangers man Rudden in the build-up to the first Ayr strike. Davidson said: “I thought Lenny Agbaire fouled Zak in the build-up to their first goal and Main was offside for his goal. But we need to react better. We made too many mistakes to let Ayr back into the game."