Rangers holds league lead in bruising match

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 27

Rangers holds league lead in bruising match

Hurricane Rangers maintained its five-point lead in the Hertz Soccer League when it drew, 0-0, in a bruising encounter, which ended dramatically, against Woolston W.M.C. at Rangers Park yesterday. In the closing minutes, the referee, Mr Ron Gallen, sent off a Rangers defender, Alan South, after an off-the-ball incident which left the Woolston midfielder, Paul Stanley, stretched out on the ground. The referee did not see the incident, which happened as Rangers were preparing to take a free-kick into a packed Woolston goalmouth. South was sent off on the advice of one of the linesmen. It was a rugged match, with plenty of niggling between players and far too much late, and illegal, tackling. Both teams had chances to score. Brent Berry and Simon Myers combined to miss a glorious chance early in the second half for Rangers, and, soon after, Neil Lilley drove the ball just over the Rangers cross-bar from a handy position. lan Cowan, the Rangers captain, forced Steve Reeves, in the Woolston goal, to tip a long range left foot effort over the bar, and Rangers did actually get the ball in the net not far from the end, only to have it controversially disallowed. Reeves did extremely well to block the initial shot from John Boatwood, but Berry was on hand to push the ball in. he was then ruled off-side. Two Woolston players were cautioned — Colin Currie for dissent and Rab Brown, who did a solid job in the heart of defence, for ungentlemanly conduct. There were, however, several other players distinctly fortunate not to also receive a yellow card as tempers frayed in the second half. KLM Cashmere moved into second place on the table after beating Cockram Nissan

Shamrock, 2-1, at a muddy Beckenham Park on Saturday. Josh te Kaat, who spends most matches minding the Cashmere defence, popped up at the other end to put his team in front. Steve Neill equalised for Shamrock before Angus Neave scored a fine goal shortly before the end to give Cashmere a valuable three points. Shamrock will rue the missed penalty-kick taken by Ron Bitschkat, which was saved by the Cashmere goal-keeper, Kevin Nicholls. It was fun and games at Spreydon Domain where Nomads United came back from an 0-4 deficit late in the first half to draw, 4-4. David Jackson scored twice for Christchurch United, Kees Doornenbal once, and a Nomads defender turned the ball into his own goal. Then it was Nomads’ turn. Danny Halligan got one, just before the interval; Duncan Bean added a second; Luke Campfens had a penalty shot blocked by the United goalkeeper, David van Voorst, but scored from the rebound; and Campfens eventually got the equaliser to round off a remarkable match. New Brighton’s hopes of avoiding relegation soared after its excellent 3-2 win over South Canterbury United in Timaru on Saturday. It now lies five points above the bottom team, Western, and the coach, Mr Joe Kemp, admitted to being fairly confident his team would stay up. “The squad is working well, they are quite happy and there is a good team spirit. That will pull us through,” he said. There was no score at halftime, Brighton having defended against a stiff breeze in the first half. Four goals in the opening 17 minutes of the second half brought the match to life. Andy Daffin got the first, at

close range, after a cross from the right by Gerard Kemp. Soon after, Kemp scored himself, direct from a free kick when the Brighton striker, Carl Bout, was brought down just outside the South Canterbury penalty area. No sooner had Brighton got its nose in front than south Canterbury pulled itself level, with two goals from its young striker, Darryl Hudson. The winning goal, in the seventieth minute, came from a third corner in succession. Phil Lawton got up at the far post to head the ball into the net. The remainder of the game was marred by an injury to the South Canterbury player, Brian Reeves. Reeves, usually team’s goal-keeper, was playing in the midfield and in a clash of heads with Bout as they jumped for the ball, Reeves suffered a suspected broken cheekbone. Western’s match against Frucci Halswell United, which was to have been played at Elmwood Park, was postponed, due to the state of the pitch. That leaves Western with five matches outstanding to complete its league programme. Two games have been set down for English Park tomorrow night, Halswell against Nomads United and Christchurch United against Rangers.

Technical put itself out of the reach of all its rivals in the premier division competition, except Burndale United, when it beat

Cashmere, 3-0, on Saturday. Four points from its last two matches will make Technical certainties for promotion. Things could have been different on Saturday, had Cashmere not missed two penalties. Woolston W.M.C. kept second place, despite being held to a scoreless draw by Rangers. Burndale beat Shamrock, 2-1, High School Old Boys and New Brighton drew, 1-1, while Riccarton picked up a valuable three points by beating Western, 2-1. PREMIER LEAGUE

HERTZ LEAGUE P W D L F A Pt Rangers 14 10 2 2 29 13 32 Cashmere 15 8 3 4 19 16 27 Shamrock 15 8 2 5 30 17 26 Woolston 15 8 2 5 21 10 26 Nomads 14 7 3 4 28 22 24 Sth Canty 15 4 4 7 17 25 16 Brighton 14 4 2 8 17 22 14 Harwell 14 4 2 8 19 30 14 Chch Utd 15 2 7 6 18 22 13 Western 13 2 3 8 11 32 9

P W D L F A Pt Tech. 16 12 1 3 47 15 37 Woolston 17 10 3 4 33 18 33 Bumdale 15 10 1 4 42 15 31 Rangers 16 9 1 6 31 28 28 Cashmere 17 7 2 8 26 30 23 Shamrock 16 6 3 7 21 26 21 H.S.O.B. 16 5 2 9 25 45 17 Rice. 17 5 0 12 19 32 15 Western 16 4 3 9 19 38 15 Brighton 16 3 4 9 13 29 13