Rangers falling behind

Press, 9 August 1976, Page 18

Rangers falling behind

The Broadlands Southern League soccer race appears to have narrowed to two clubs after Dunedin City blunted Rangers’ hopes through a David Young goal at Dunedin yesterday.

It will now take a monumental effort for Rangers to catch the leaders, Dunedin and Technical. City tops the table with 24 points, Technical has 22, and Rangers 19. Technical has one game in hand of City, Rangers have two — which could carry it to 23 points — but one game is against Technical and Rangers must rely on City dropping points with only three matches to go. Technical has the hardest programme: Rangers. Invercargill Thistle twice, and Woolston. City has to meet Shamrock, Cashmere, Wanderers and Roslyn* Waikari, while Rangers has to play Technical, Mosgiel, Roslyn, and Western twice.

Technical gave one of its most composed and fluent displays of the season in beating Roslyn* Waikari, 4-1, through Graham Storer (two goals), Tony Clayton, and John Stevens.

Tom Randles, the player-coach, moved Storer from sweeper to midfield and Clayton from wing to striker, and the moves paid dividends.

Thistle narrowly beat Shamrock, 4-3, in a match that contained most of Its excitement in the last 20 minutes after three

goals in five minutes opened the game. Until the late stages the game lacked urgency, with Thistle leading 3-1.

Cashmere bolstered its hopes of avoiding relegation through a 0-0 draw with Woolston. while Western, now three points in arrears at the bottom, was losing, 0-1, to Mosgiel.

Rangiora forced a draw with Northern Hearts in the qualifying division, to open the title race, but Hearts is still one point clear. With all three leading sides having easy fixtures remaining, Hearts might well become the first non-Rothmans League reserve side to win the competition.

Results.—New Brighton 3, Burndale United 1; Riccarton W.M.C. 0, Christchurch United 9; Papanui Suburbs 3, Halswell United 1; Nomads United 1, High School Old Boys 1; Northern Hearts 1, Rangiora 1; University 1, Timaru City 2.

P W D L F A Pts Dn City 15 10 4 1 30 12 24 Technical 14 in 2 2 43 15 22 Rangers 13 B 3 2 24 8 19 Thistle 14 6 5 3 28 19 17 Woolston 16 5 5 6 21 21 15 Roslyn 15 6 2 7 20 20 14 Shamrock 15 3 5 7 19 28 11 *Mosgiel 16 4 3 9 18 46 11 Cashmere 15 1 7 7 8 27 B Western 15 1 4 10 11 27 B

P w D L F 4 Pts Hearts 17 13 3 1 33 10 29 Brighton 17 13 2 2 45 13 28

Chch Utd 17 14 0 4 58 14 28 Papanul 15 10 1 4 28 23 21 Nomads 17 R 4 5 26 19 20 HSOB 17 6 4 7 31 23 16 Timaru 18 8 0 10 38 36 IS Rangiora 18 6 2 10 23 31 14 Halswell 17 5 2 10 22 34 12 Varsity 18 4 2 9 21 38 11 Bumdala 17 3 2 12 13 37 8 Riccarton 17 0 1 IS 5 21 1