LONGHOUGHTON Rangers progressed to the second round of the NACYP Cup with a convincing 6-2 win at Westgate Warriors.

Rangers came from a goal down to book their place in the competition's next phase.

The game started slowly but Longhoughton had the best of the possession and made some progress on the right-hand side with the combination of Josh Briggs and Brad Asprey. The midfield pairing of Sam Eastham and Sam Eggleston also proved effective.

However, this was undone with a slick move and direct attack from Westgate which saw them open the scoring after 10 minutes.

Not to be deterred Rangers were stung into life and hit back almost immediately following some tenacious work in the box. Asprey collected a return pass from Briggs and then wriggled his way to just outside the six-yard area, producing a delightful chip to beat the on-coming keeper to bring Rangers level.

The goal lifted Rangers who started to move the ball with precision and accuracy and quickly took control of the midfield.

A good passing move through the middle found Ryan Harrison in the box under pressure from the Westgate defence but he managed to find a yard of space to fire the ball into the corner of the net.

Westgate, who always looked threatening on the break, surged forward but the Longhoughton centre-half pairing of Ryan Pattinson and Connor Thompson were on call to clean up any loose balls.

Kieran Taylor in the Longhoughton goal was always alive to any danger and was called upon to clear a long Westgate ball into touch.

As half-time approached, Longhoughton increased their lead. A pin-point 25yard clearance from Briggs on the right put young Chris Gardner clean through to score and send Rangers in 3–1 up.

Rangers reorganised at half-time with Joe Lewis and Luke Evans taking the full-back slots to free the influential Briggs who was moved to the right wing.

Westgate were out of the blocks quickly and scored just after the restart with a cross from the left that was volleyed in from close range.

The goal again regalvanised Rangers who moved into their best spell of the game as Andy Murray and man-of-the-match Will Hall both clipped the woodwork.

The hard-working Hall then got his reward for persistence as he muscled his way through the Westgate defence to smash a shot into the top right corner.

This was followed by the move of the game as Briggs collected the ball on the right, drove forward and, displaying great vision and touch, he slotted a sublime pass through the Westgate defence.

Gardner pounced and in his customary calm manner, beat the keeper to make it 5–2.