An awful first fifteen minutes was luckily only a temporary glitch, when Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers met Old Blues in the Bay Sportsmed Bowl semifinal; at Mount Maunganui on Saturday. Old Blues capitalised a series of benevolent refereeing decisions, when after ten minutes their free kick was not cleared and the ball was in the Rangers net. Two minutes later Rangers' captain Ben McPherson set off on a solo run and scored. However, another gap opened in the Rangers' defence a minute later and Old Blues were leading again.
Rangers then started to settle themselves into some decent football. After 25 minutes player-coach Richie Nillesen combined well with McPherson and fed Jaiden Ibbetson. The striker turned beautifully, wrongfooting the defence and scored. Ten minutes later, McPherson was also allowed to turn by the Old Blues defence and made the most of it, putting Rangers into the lead. Just before half time Ibbetson got away and rounded the keeper to have Rangers leading 4 - 2 at half time.
After the break, Old Blues came back with determination and Rangers had to defend for quite a while. However, they weathered the storm and later in the half kept the game under control with plenty of possession. The final score stayed at 4 - 2, meaning Rangers will head into the Bowl Final on September 29, where they will meet Ngongotaha's Bay Two side , who eliminated Papamoa 2 - 1.
Nillesen was named player of the day for Rangers after setting off a number of attacks with well times passing. Andy Brabant and the goal scorers were also in top form. This Saturday Rangers have the same opponents, Old Blues, in a Bay One game, away at Welcome Bay.
On Sunday Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers women's team were at home in their final league game, to Rotorua United. Despite only have the bare eleven players, Rangers started brightly and might have been in front after Gillian Green's cross led to a shot being saved by the Rotorua keeper. However, Rotorua took their chances and led comfortably at half time. Rangers redoubled their efforts after the break, and only conceded a further three goals to eventually go down 11 - 0. Defender Mary Collier was player of the day. Others to stand out were Holly Davis and Kate Collier.