Plains Rangers AFC
May 3rd 2003 v Taupo
| Plains Rangers pulled off an amazing result on
Saturday. With a number of regular players unavailable, Rangers travelled to play Taupo with a ten man make-shift team. For the first twenty minutes, the home side put lots of pressure on the Rangers defence, but were unable to prise them open. Then the sheer determination of the Rangers team brought them into the game. Reward came when Nick Jago cracked a superb twenty metre drive into the Taupo goal. By this time the Rangers midfield, a pieced together line-up of Jason Pullar, Dan Logan, Jason Shaw and Jago, were starting to combine well. Shortly before half time, a long throw-in caused panic in the home team defence, the keeper palmed the ball out only for Logan to half volley it into the net. The interval came with the score at 2 - 0 to the visitors. After the break, Taupo started passing the ball around more, to stretch the ten-man Rangers side. The ploy worked well and they scored through a slick passing move. However, Rangers were in no mood to settle for second place. Their constant harassment of the home team, typified by the work of 14 year old sole front runner Jeremy Hawkes, caused errors in the Taupo play. Rangers came back. Jason Shaw was unlucky to hit the crossbar with a strong shot, but with fifteen minutes to go, another long throw, a flick on from Pullar and Shaw headed the ball into the net to seal the game for Rangers. The final score Taupo 1, Plains Rangers 3. This was a mighty effort from the whole team, with everyone playing to their best. Steely defence from captain David Dennis, Brendan Cusack, Barrie Hawkes and player of the day Steve Vierboom, meant that keeper Matt Aberhart only had to deal with a handful of shots. Rangers would like to acknowledge the generosity of Pullar Builders in supplying match balls for the season. This coming Saturday, Rangers are at home to Te Puke. Kick-off at the Edgecumbe Domain is at 2 p.m. |