Plains Rangers had an incident packed game at Rotorua Suburbs on Saturday.
Rangers almost got on the scoreboard straight away. Brendan Cusack got his head to
an early corner, it was repelled, and the Suburbs keeper did well to get down to block
Bas Overdevest’s follow-up shot from close range. The home team got back into the
game quickly and put Rangers under pressure too. Rangers fought hard, but couldn’t
really get their passing going freely. Suburbs were unlucky to be denied a penalty
when the referee didn’t spot a Rangers handball on the goal line. They then did open
the scoring with a strong header from a corner. Rangers came close to equalising, but
a well hit shot from Craig Lambert was well saved. At half time Suburbs held the lead
1 - 0.
Rangers took more control as the second half progressed. Richie Nillesen got through
the defence, but was denied by a good one-on-one save. Nillesen’s running opened up
the Suburbs team again, and he squared the ball across goal for Mark Thompson to
drill home the equaliser. Although Rangers looked dangerous for the remainder of the
game, it was Suburbs who almost took the game. With one minute on the clock a
home team striker went down in the box, and for the second week in a row Rangers
keeper Matt Aberhart made an excellent save from the penalty spot. The final score
was Rotorua Suburbs 1, Plains Rangers 1.
Rangers certainly had to battle for their point. This was typified by Nillesen, who was
named player of the day for his non-stop efforts despite playing with an injury.