Plains Rangers AFC
14 July 2001 v Tauranga City United
A gallant performance from Plains Rangers made for an entertaining spectacle as Rangers visited Tauranga City United in the BOP Division One on Saturday.
Rangers took a reasonably strong line-up with them, but took a while to settle as TCU attacked from the outset. Rangers keeper Christian Wetting had an outstanding first half, pulling off a number of miraculous saves to keep his team in the hunt. After twenty minutes the visitors shocked the home team. Rangers' centre back Barrie Hawkes won the ball and flicked it over the TCU defence to Simon Smit. Smit passed it on to Ashley Hawkes in the penalty area and he squared a low hard pass for Simon Ruiter to score. This lifted the Rangers confidence and they had a good share of the rest of the half.
In the second spell, TCU again pressed forward with plenty of well-formed attacks. After fifteen minutes the pressure told, and a hopeful lob forward was converted by the TCU striker delicately touching the ball over the stranded keeper's head. The willing midfield contest continued with the Overdevest brothers holding the centre well. The hosts had a lot of speed down the flanks and they used this to advantage, taking the lead via this route. However the goal was unlucky for Rangers, with keeper Wetting diving, getting a hand to the ball which spun just inside the goal post. The home team sealed the win with a dubious goal, when Wetting was robbed of the ball on the edge of his penalty area. The ball was played in to a player who was standing in front of goal and he scored despite vocal protests for off-side. The final score was Tauranga City United 3, Plains Rangers 1.
The Rangers team could certainly hold their heads up after this game. They had the home team sweating for much of the game and certainly competed with gusto. A memorable match-up was that of Sjoerd Overdevest with ex-All White Tony Ferris. The pair had a number of incidents, which culminated in Sjoerd wrestling Ferris to the ground. They both wore smiles. Luckily the ref also saw the funny side of it, and restarted the game with a dropped ball! Player of the day for Rangers was left back Daniel Overdevest, who linked well with the players around him.Wetting would have had the TCU national league talent scouts interested with his superb display.
Forward to BOP Div One points table