The rain cleared at Litt Park on Saturday in time to allow a great battle in the Tasman Cup quarter final between home team Te Puke and Gary Fowell Builders Plains Rangers.
The well-performed Te Puke team opened strongly and Rangers concentrated on nullifying their threat in the first half. A sound defensive effort and a superb fingertip save from keeper Christian Wetting, where he flicked a goalbound header up and over the bar, kept Te Puke out.
The second half saw Rangers coming more and more into the game, with centre midfielders Bas Overdevest and Josh Hyndman gaining a fair share of the ball. The first appearance of the season of Dan Logan up front gave Rangers an extra dimension, with his strength on the ball and clever passing a threat. The game opened out into a thriller. Te Puke hit the post. Both teams had a goal disallowed within the space of a minute. A Logan pass put Ben McPherson through, but as the ball rolled into the net the referee pulled them back for offside. Te Puke had theirs ruled out and a free kick awarded. The home team then claimed a penalty but the kick was awarded outside the box and duly repelled. Jeremy Hawkes had a shot well saved by the home team keeper. At full time the score was locked up, 0 - 0.
The 30 minutes extra time began, with Te Puke trying to keep the ball out of range of dominating keeper Wetting. Rangers' player-coach proved their point with a brilliant double save denying two strong shots. Then Rangers thought they'd won it, an Aaron Muggeridge free kick weighted perfectly to find Bas Overdevest's head. His fine flick on beat the keeper but bounced away off the post. Despite tiring legs in the, by now, muddy conditions the two teams hammered away, with Rangers going agonisingly close twice late on. A Hawkes cross was narrowly headed wide by McPherson, then sub Jono Whitaker volleyed a cross just wide.
The sage was ended by the dreaded penalty shoot out, with the hosts reversing the result of last year's semi-final, winning 5 - 4.
Rangers could hold their heads high after this performance.
This Saturday it's back to league action with Rangers away to Greerton and needing to string a few wins together to lift their position on the table.