Rangers praised for ‘best performance’

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 34

Rangers praised for ‘best performance’

“The best team performance of the season” was how the Rangers’ coach Bill McDonald, summed up his side’s 2-0 win over their closest Hertz Soccer League pursuer, Nomads United, at Tulett Park on Saturday. The result drops Nomads four points off the pace and lets Cashmere-Wanderers slip into second place with their convincing 3-0 win over Burndale United at Burnside Park. In what will be an interesting end to the first half of the competition, Rangers will meet Cashmere on May 19, after next week-end’s break in the league for Adidas Chatham Cup games. Both Rangers’ goals came in the second half. Grant Hughes turned past a defender and took his chance well to open the scoring and John Boatwood, back after a shoulder injury, added the second, slipethe ball past the goaljer, from a pass by Geoff Blackburn.

Unfortunately, Boatwood marred his comeback by being cautioned for dissent by the referee, Neil Burt, before the re-start after his goal. His team-mate, lan Cowan, was also booked for deliberate hand ball. For Mr McDonald, however, it was a satisfying day. He believes that the experience the players have gained over recent seasons has helped them cope with being regularly perched on top of the table.

“Rangers have learned to play with pressure over the last three years,” he said. “This season they have been at the top since the first game, and even, when they play badly, the other teams seem to lose points. I feel the pressure is on the other teams, not us.” Cashmere picked up its sixth consecutive win in the league with two goals from Steve Bailey and the third from Drew Hendrie. It was Hendrie’s sixth of the competition, making the little midfielder the joint leading scorer in the

determinedly and counter-at-tacked threateningly. Indeed, it should have taken the lead midway through the second half when Graeme Jones skipped through the defence, drew the Woolston goalkeeper, Steven Reeves, before slipping the ball into the path of Dean Hammond. He missed the ball completely and Tony Orpwood’s subsequent shot was deflected wide. Finally, Trevor Reece’s centre from the left found Poole, whose glancing header flew past Jones for the winner. Even then, South Canterbury could have equalised. Orpwood stole in from the right, behind the defence, to meet a cross, but steered his volley wide. Shamrock and Christchurch United drew, 0-0, at Spreydon Domain in an even match where the two defences generally dominated. Two United players, Malcolm Bailey and Andrew Eastgate, were booked, and another, Andrew Rutledge, was carried off in the second half with a suspected damaged cartilage. Western moved above United on the table with a 2-1 win over New Brighton, also at English Park. John McWilliams put Western ahead, but John Maguire equalised before the interval. The winner, a close-range volley, came from Alan Stroud.

league, with Greg Clark, of New Brighton. However, the outcome might have been different had Burndale’s Paul Hodgson not put his penalty kick wide of the goal early in the -second half after a defender had handled the ball. Woolston W.M.C. got back on the winning path against South Canterbury United at English Park, but did not get the allimportant goal until five minutes from the end. Having dominated most of the first half without scoring, things looked like turning sour for Woolston as South Canterbury began to cause problems. Twice Graham Sargent drove just over the bar from 30m. Dion Moir, who transferred recently from New Brighton, and Mike Poole both had good first half chances for Woolston. South Canterbury’s goalkeeper, Richard Jones, aged 15, was having his first senior match. A brother of South Canterbury’s most inventive attacker, Graeme Jones, he made some notable saves, but was aided by some poor crosses and inaccurate shooting from Woolston. South Canterbury defended

Halswell United continued to head the premier division table, after its 2-1 win over Rangers on Saturday. In the other matches, Cashmere beat High School Old Boys, 1-0; Rangiora beat New Brighton, 3-2; Shamrock beat Western, 4-0; and Technical also scored four in beating Riccarton, 4-2.

HERTZ LEAGUE P W D L F A Pt Rangers 8 6 1 1 14 8 19 Cashmere 8 6 0 2 16 6 18 Nomads 8 5 0 3 17 12 15 Woolston 8 4 2 2 12 9 14 Shamrock 8 4 1 3 13 9 13 Brighton 8 3 1 4 16 16 10 Sth Canty 8 3 0 5 12 11 9 Western 8 2 1 5 8 19 7 Chch Utd 8 1 3 4 7 13 6 Bumdale 8 0 3 5 2 13 3