Plains Rangers had another successful weekend on the football pitch, with two wins and two clean sheets.
On Saturday Rangers men were at home to Taupo Lakers. Taupo have an inexperienced team this season and are at the bottom of the table. Rangers controlled much of the play from the start, but, despite some good passing moves, took quite a while to unlock the visiting defence. Finally, after twenty five minutes, Earle Tuhimata opened the scoring with a well struck shot from over 20 metres. Just three minutes later, some neat passing between Elias Thomas and Jordan Hoete set up Jesse Meadows, who chipped the keeper to double the lead. Rangers had a big set back late in the half, when their excellent centre defender Teimana Awhimate went off with a knee injury. At half time the score was 2 – 0.
The second half started with Taupo digging in and foiling Rangers attacks but, midway through the half, the pressure from the home team started the cracks opening. More great passing between Thomas and Tuhimata set up Alex Boyce but his shot went over. Ollie Fort went on a neat run through the midfield and fed Tuhimata, whose shot hit the post. A minute later Thomas had the ball in the back of the net after a classy run, but the off-side flag was up. With ten minutes to go, a cool chip from Hoete put Tuhimata through and he scored with a calm finish. In the final minute Rangers added the icing to the cake when Thomas took the ball down the wing and squared it to Tuhimata who beat the keeper to complete his hat-trick. The final score: Plains Rangers 4, Taupo Lakers 0.
Player of the day was Jordan Hoete, who had a fine game in his last game for the club as he is heading to Australia. Rangers will also be missing midfield lynchpin Hamish Wilde for the next few weeks, as he travels to support brother Hayden at the Olympics.
This Saturday Rangers men are at home to Te Puke and will hope to do better than the scoreless draw that they had in the first round. Te Puke will be a challenge though with some good results recently. Kick-off at the Edgecumbe Domain is at 2.30 pm.
On Sunday Plains Rangers women had wet, cold conditions for their game at Te Puke against Wahine Toa. The home team have improved considerably from the first time the teams met, when Rangers won 3 – 1. This time Rangers found it hard to break through their defence. Rangers did open up chances with some good passing and crosses, despite the condition of the pitch. Gemma Stuckey made the difference with a good goal to give Rangers a 1 – 0 win.
Player of the day was Sarah Wigzell, who was outstanding in defence. She cleaned up tricky situations with calm play and cleared the ball well. This Sunday Rangers women are at home to Papamoa Icons and will hope to avenge the 1 – 0 loss they suffered in the first round. Kick-off is at 12.30pm

Ranee's report:
Us VS Te Puke 2
1-0
What a wet, cold day to be out playing soccer.
It was an even match game today; Te Puke has improved from last time we played them.
Yes, we found it hard to break through their back line however we did have our moment when we did and made them all couple not just shorting at the goal but passing that ball around and making some nice cross balls.
Yes everyone had a hard game today and the pitch condition didn't help much, but we keep trucking along and played our game, once again when we play that passing game it looks good to watch.
Gemma, you had a tough game today but everything you did paid off for you getting the magic goal.
Player of the day goes to Sarah W. Each week you play the game and today there was something different about your play and it showed, you did a lot of cleaning up and clearing of the ball, calling for the ball to be played back to you and then placing that ball back into the goal area, well done Sarah and well deserved.
Well done ladies on today's efforts, you all should be proud of yourselves.

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