Plains Rangers men rounded off their season with a valiant effort on Saturday. Waipuna Rangers visited Edgecumbe to take on the home team in a Miller Cup quarter-final. Waipuna are a division above the local Rangers side, so a stern challenge was on the cards.
With no official referee appointed, Ian Gray stepped up to take the whistle in his final contribution to Rangers, before moving away. The game got off to a flying start. A header from a Waipuna cross brought a good save from keeper Christian Wetting, the first of many as it turned out. The home team roared onto the attack and Hamish Wilde drew an excellent near-post save from the visiting keeper. Two minutes later, Wetting needed to make a timely intervention to keep out another Waipuna attack. The visitors played a nice brand of football, orchestrated by their veteran Uruguayan midfielder, but Rangers kept pressing and put together some nice passages of play too. Ollie Fort showed some classy touches in the midfield, but was unfortunately caught by a mistimed tackle and had to leave the pitch. Midway through the half, Wilde made a good attacking run but was kept out by the Waipuna defence. However, Kobi Wetting pressured them and won the ball back, and fed Ryan Elliot who went very close. Waipuna bounced back and keeper Wetting made two excellent saves. With the score locked up, the play was getting fiery. Ben McPherson was fouled in a poor tackle, and his brother Sam was booked for a tackle soon afterwards. Half time arrived with the score still 0 – 0.
Rangers came out looking to keep things tight defensively, but were immediately undone when a long ball over the top sent their speedy striker through to score with a well-taken goal. Rangers battled on, needing to score to stay in the game. However, injuries were beginning to pile up. Both McPherson brothers eventually had to hobble off and then twenty minutes in, the visitors got a lucky break, when a mix-up saw Rangers score a slow-motion own goal. From there, Waipuna managed the game fairly well, although the home team kept them honest. The final score was Plains Rangers 0, Waipuna Rangers 2.
Waipuna will now head into a semi-final this Saturday, with their opponents yet to be decided. For Rangers, the defeat means the end of a good season, with a third place finish in the league and a heads-held-high showing in the Miller Cup. Christian Wetting was named man of the match, having made several outstanding saves in goal. James Hart also shone with a strong performance in the midfield and later dropping back into defence. Ian Gray did well to keep the lid on such a high-stakes game, and will be missed in the Plains Rangers ranks.
Rangers men's and women's teams will now look forward to the club break-up and prize-giving on September 27th as part of the Edgecumbe Sports Club.

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