The Awakeri crowd was thoroughly entertained by the contest
between Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers and Otumoetai on Saturday.
The visitors are well in contention to win the league and they started
strongly, but Rangers weathered the storm and an even first half ensued.
Midfielder Christian Wetting almost gave Rangers the lead, heading a corner
narrowly wide. After 35 minutes, Otumoetai took the lead with a well struck
shot from twenty metres. One minute later an excellent team move brought
the home team level. Jordan Ogilvy fed the ball to Tom Davison. His slide-rule
pass put Ben McPherson through and he rounded the keeper to score. Late
in the half Otumoetai again took the lead with a close range header.
Rangers stepped up the football in the second half and put a lot of pressure
on the likely league winners. Speedy wingers McPherson and Jaiden Ibbetson
kept the Otumoetai defence busy, while the Rangers defence, led by Ben
Fretwell, did a good job keeping the prolific visiting strikeforce quiet.
A good ball from Wetting put player of the day Tom Davison through on
goal, and his shot shaved the upright. Ibbetson almost grabbed a late
equaliser, but his shot was cleared off the line by an alert defender
to give Otumoetai a 2 - 1 win. If Otumoetai gain a point from their final
game, they will win Bay One.
Rangers played some good football in this game and, as the visiting spokesman
acknowledged, they deserved to get more from the game.
Rangers will look forward to this Saturday's Sponsors Challenge match
with the Whakatane Town federation team. The game kicks off at Rex Morpeth
Park at 2.45pm.
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