On a hard bouncy pitch, in total contrast to last week, Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers did battle with Rotorua Suburbs in BOP division three on Saturday.
From the outset, it was a willingly contested game, with home team Suburbs keen to retain their unbeaten status. Rangers put some good passing moves together through the midfield and kept the experienced Suburbs defence honest. The home team threw men forward into attack in their turn and put the Rangers defence under some pressure too. An even battle had the score locked at 0 - 0 at half time.
In the second half Rangers became more dominant, though the home team's tight defence and their keeper's booming punts repelled them regularly. Rangers opened up a number of opportunities, with Simon Gowing's hard running to the fore. But the shots on goal were all dealt with by the home team keeper. The game, which was refereed in excellent fashion by Dave Taylor, remained scoreless.
While Rangers will be disappointed not to take all the points, they remain high up the table. Steve Vierboom's sound play on the flank earned him player of the day for Rangers. Jono Whitaker did a good job between the sticks in the absence of the regular keeper and Richie Nillesen produced another high energy performance in the midfield.
Rangers will be looking forward to the trip to play Taupo One this Saturday.