The Awakeri sports field had two entertaining games played on it over the weekend. On Saturday Plains Rangers were at home to the young Kawerau Sports team in the split round of BOP division two. Rangers fielded a strong line-up, determined to put on a better showing than the 1 – 1 draw when the teams previously met.
Rangers got their team game flowing from the outset and dominated the first half an hour. After ten minutes Aaron Muggeridge put the hosts in front with a tidy side foot finish. Sam McPherson put Rangers two up after a good move, with a sweetly struck left footer. Thirty minutes in and Ben McPherson broke through the Kawerau defence to score. While Kawerau were on the rack, they stayed competitive. At half time Rangers player-coach Christian Wetting was well pleased with the effort.
However, after the break Rangers struggled to get the fluidity back and the game meandered along until the final minutes when it roared back into life. Substitute Chris Butler had only just entered the fray when the Kawerau keeper made a fine save to keep out a good shot. Butler latched onto the rebound and put the ball in the net. Moments later he put a good pass through the visitors' defence for Tayne Corporaal to latch onto and score. The final score was Plains Rangers 5, Kawerau 0.
The game was played in excellent spirits by both teams and was enjoyed by the healthy crowd of spectators. Matthew Orr McKeown was named Rangers' player of the day.
This Saturday Rangers are at home to Te Puke.
On Sunday Alignments Plus Ltd Plains Rangers women were at home to Taupo in BOP division one. The Taupo team played some nice football from the outset, but Rangers defence was staunch and behind them Kate Robbie was excellent in goal. Taupo could not capitalise on their possession for a long time and Rangers grew in confidence and launched several good raids. Gillian Green and Jenny McIntyre made good inroads down the flanks. Only a few minutes before half time a hesitation in the Rangers defence allowed Taupo a shot from close range to open the scoring. Taupo did go on to win 6 – 0 in the end but there were plenty of positive moments for Rangers too. Tracey Pullar's tenacious defence earned her player of the day.
The women's league is now being split, so Rangers will wait with interest to see who their opponents are this Sunday.