Plains Rangers AFC
18 August 2001 v Otumoetai
A courageous display by Plains Rangers in their BOP division one fixture on Saturday almost produced a shock result.
Rangers travelled to play fourth placed Otumoetai, with only a bare eleven. With six players unavailable due to work commitments, Rangers had to play two people carrying injuries and call in 16 year old German exchange Felix Brandts.
Rangers took a surprise early lead. Sjoerd Overdevest fed a great ball through to his brother Bas, who, despite being closely marked, scored from a tight angle. The home team used the tail wind to advantage and kept Rangers pinned inside their own half for much of the first spell. However, determined defence from the backs and midfield, allied with confident goalkeeping from Daniel Overdevest kept them at bay. However, after half an hour, the pressure told and Otumoetai converted a good goal. Just seconds before the interval, left back Aaron Magee, playing his first game for weeks, scored with a spectacular effort. Magee intercepted an Otumoetai clearance, and blasted a shot from all of 40 metres into the top right corner of the goal. Rangers were very happy with the half time score of 2 - 1.
After the break, Rangers had the better of the first twenty minutes, although the wind gradually swung round to go across the pitch. From there though, the home team threw men forward on a good number of attacks. Midway through the half, Otumoetai won a penalty when their striker was brought down in the box. They converted it well. Then with ten minutes to go, Otumoetai were very relieved to put away the winning goal after threading the ball through the defence. The final score Otumoetai 3, Plains Rangers 2.
Great credit needs to go to the Rangers players for putting up a valiant performance with the odds stacked against them. The player of the day was Bas Overdevest. His work in the midfield and covering in defence was tireless. Top efforts also came from Aaron Muggeridge, Magee, Daniel Overdevest, Brandts and Jason Shaw. The game was well controlled by referee Jamie Webber.
Forward to BOP Div One points table