Plains Rangers AFC
August 24th 2002 v Rotorua Suburbs
It was not the happy ending Plains Rangers had planned! Rangers hosted Rotorua Suburbs in the BOP 2nd division on Saturday, in the last league game of the season.
However, their visitors made a lot of the running. Early in the piece, a ball in behind the Rangers defence caught them out and Suburbs had the lead. The ship righted itself after twenty minutes when Brendan Cusack did well to put away a left foot half volley. Suburbs got their noses back in front when a striker finished a one-on-one with the keeper with a classy touch. The half time score was Rangers 1, Suburbs 2.
After the break things looked up for the home team for a while. Cusack got on the end of another move and put it away, again with the left foot. A period of pressure on the Suburbs goal culminated in an excellent Ryan Wilson shot beating the keeper, only for it to be 'saved ' by a defender's diving hand. The culprit was sent off for the offence, and Wilson calmly slotted the resultant penalty home, also using the left foot. Unfortunately for Rangers, they could not retain ball possession long enough to run the ten-man Suburbs team around, and Suburbs came back. Another ball in behind the defence had the scores level. With ten minutes to go, a Suburbs attack was finished from what looked like an impossible angle and the game ended with the score at Plains Rangers 3, Rotorua Suburbs 4.
It was a less than satisfactory end to a good season for the Rangers team and supporters. They will have to wait and see if their current second place on the league table is overtaken by teams which have catch-up games to play.
Forward to BOP Div Two points table