A good sized crowd turned out on Saturday in warm sunny conditions to enjoy the local derby between Visique Whakatane Town and Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers in BOP division one.
Rangers, fielding quite a strong line-up, started out in menacing fashion. They had shots from Joel Ogilvy, Matt Dalgity and Ben McPherson all going close in the first six minutes. Another Dalgity strike was saved onto the bar by the Whakatane keeper, a McPherson effort was cleared off the line and after twelve minutes the break through came. From a corner, Whakatane couldn't keep out a Ben McPherson header and Rangers were deservedly in front. Rangers were in control most of the first half, winning the midfield battle and mopping up the sporadic home team attacks.
After the interval Rangers thought they had further advantage when Dean Butterworth was upended running into the box. However, the decision was not forthcoming. The football then turned into an even affair, with Whakatane having a reasonable number of useful attacks and winning free kicks in useful positions. Rangers went close after twenty minutes, with Jacob Heath header narrowly wide. On the hour mark, Whakatane got back on even terms, courtesy of a penalty when their striker was fouled. A minute later Whakatane had the ball in the net agani but it was ruled out for off side. Both teams worked hard to the end trying to grab the win, but they had to settle for a 1 - 1 at the final whistle.
Rangers will feel they deserved better from the game, but it was a good display of football. Matt Dalgity was their player of the day and Tyler (?) was Whakatane's. Others to impress for Rangers included Kirk Bain, Patrick Lambert and Hamish Wilde.
This Saturday Rangers will need to be in top form again as they host Te Puke, who inflicted the first loss on Tauranga City Relics on Saturday.
Kick off at Awakeri will be at 2.30 pm.