Plains Rangers hosted Whakatane Town in the Chatham Cup on ANZAC Day in a much anticipated clash. The Chatham Cup is NZ's equivalent of the FA Cup, so progressing in it can lead to fixtures against teams from higher leagues and from outside the local area. Rangers play in BOP division 2, while Whakatane are in division one.
A decent sized crowd turned up at the Edgecumbe Domain and the football didn't disappoint. The home team started out playing some nice controlled football and had the better of the opening period. Whakatane played on the break for a while and Rangers' player-coach goalkeeper Christian Wetting did have to make a good save from one of these moves. The visitors soon settled into their passing game to put pressure on Rangers, and an even battle ensued. Rangers made good progress down their left flank where Ollie Fort and Joseph Spalding put together some great moves. Whakatane's speedy forwards kept the Rangers defence on their toes. Late in the half several chances opened up. A long throw-in from Hamish Wilde was just gathered by Whakatane keeper Reuben Rossiter-Whittaker to deny Sione Lotu. Cameron Wills was put through the Rangers defence but keeper Wetting made a fine one-on-one save. Spalding got round the Whakatane defence and pulled the ball across goal, but couldn't find a runner. At half time the game was tied at 0 – 0.
Whakatane had the first chance early in the second half, following confusion about which team was taking a throw in. Wetting made another save. The end-to-end game continued. Lotu got in to block a clearance from Whittaker and the rebound almost ended up in the visitors' goal. Ten minutes into the half, Whakatane hit the lead when Ricky Owen looped a header over Wetting from a corner. They almost doubled their lead from another corner ten minutes later, but the woodwork intervened. Rangers sent Ollie Fort up front and his good work gave young Kobi Wetting a chance, bringing a good save from the keeper. With five minutes to play, a goalmouth scramble ended with Whakatane being awarded a penalty. Brendan Mitchell converted it well. Rangers pulled out all the stops and won a series of corners. The home crowd erupted when a Kobi Wetting corner was powered in by a Teimana Awhimate header. However, Rangers had run out of time and the final whistle went: Plains Rangers 1, Whakatane Town 2, meaning Whakatane will go through to the next round of the Cup.
The match had lived up to the anticipation, with lots of good football played and a close result. Player of the match for Rangers was Joseph Spalding and coach Wetting would have been very pleased with his team's overall play. The next scheduled game for Rangers is away to Ohope Sharks this Saturday, with a catch-up Miller Cup game against the same opposition also to be fitted in. Rangers women are at home to Waiariki on Sunday.

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