There were a good old-fashioned ding dong battle at Awakeri
on Saturday when Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers hosted Tauranga City
Relics in BOP division one. Rangers started very well and created several
early chances. Jaiden Ibbetson had one in the back of the net but it was
ruled out for off side. Rangers had the bad luck to lose their captain
Richie Nillesen with a knee injury shortly after. The visitors then got
their noses in front, a midfielder pounced on a loose ball and did well
to draw keeper Christian Wetting and score. Rangers' Chilean striker Nestor
Rocha was the next to suffer injury, and Rangers had two of their subs
on the field before half time. Another setback followed, with Relics pouncing
on an underhit back pass and lobbing the ball into the net. At half time
Rangers were two goals down, but fighting hard.
After the break, the home team stepped up the pressure on their experienced
rivals. Young centre backs Ben Fretwell and Jeff Krause did a mighty job
in keeping the strong visiting strikers under wraps, and winning the ball
to feed into the midfield. Ben McPherson and James Krause used the ball
well in the midfield. Ibbetson got into the Relics penalty area, and did
well to stay on his feet after being fouled by the keeper. He squared
the ball across goal for Dylan Arthur to score from close range. Rangers
fought hard to get the equaliser, while the visitors strove to make the
game safe. Wetting had to pull off a brilliant diving save to keep out
one strike from the midfield. Late substitute Kirk Bain came close to
connecting with a header for Rangers. In the end the visitors hung onto
their 2 - 1 lead for the win.
While it was a loss, it was a gutsy display from Rangers and it will give
them heart for their Cup quarter final this Saturday at Ngongotaha, which
has a 12.30pm kickoff. Rangers player of the day was hard working left
back Jordan Ogilvy.
On Sunday Plains Rangers women played the well performed Te Puke team.
While Te Puke had a healthy 18 - 0 win, Rangers put in a good effort,
led by player of the day Amy Campbell in goal. Maria Puutu came close
to scoring for Rangers and Hayley Warner impressed with her strong showing.
This Sunday Rangers women have the trip to Taupo.
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