Rangers 10 Cheadle Utd Thursday 5

Rangers pop the Cork!

The final game of the season saw the leagues two bottom clubs pitted against one another in more of a battle for pride than final league standing. However, it was possible for Cheadle Utd Thursday to pull level on points with the Rangers with a victory, but also possible for the Rangers to jump a place with a win and if other games went in their favour.

It was a pretty much full strength team for the Rangers, Hedderz making a cameo appearance since his move and Dr H. back from his back injury. This gave the Rangers more attacking options, something that had been lacking in the last few weeks. Mini had also recovered from his injury to play outfield, and Belly had shaken off his girly cold to pull on the keeper gloves. Pie, Shiz, Piggy and Rascle made up the eight.

Surprisingly Rangers didn’t get off to their usual good start, CUT actually making the early running, nipping quickly into a two-goal lead. Belly struggled to cope with the damp conditions from an earlier downpour and letting the tame shot slip through his grasp for their second. Dr Holland gave the score line some parity, coolly slotting home the first of two goals for the big man on his return. A few subs later and Rangers managed to pull level, Mini pouncing on a loose ball to lash home the equaliser. Rotating the subs well meant the Rangers could keep fresh, and it was justified that the Rangers went in 4-2 up at half time, Dr H. notching his second of the game before half time.

CUT were struggling with just the one sub, and were often playing like an early BRFC, leaving gaps at the back, poor communication and not taking their chances, however compared to when they first met, CUT were vastly improved, as the closer score line infers.

Second half and the rain started to fall making the ball very greasy. Handling for Belly was made harder and control, turning and short passing were difficult, not to mention shooting. CUT capitalised on BRFC failure to cope with the conditions, drawing level with a goal from an acute angle and the equaliser after a mix up between Mini and Dr H put the attacker through on goal.

BRFC turned up the heat after this, Hedderz finding his shooting boots to pick up two powerful goals after the CUT defenders stood off him. Pie also got a couple, battling well for both and pouncing on rebounds. Piggy, after a change of boots at half time also found the touch knocking in his two for the evening.

By the end of the game puddles were forming on the pitch and the rain made the game very difficult. Russ and Shiz excelled in the defensive areas realising that in those conditions the football might not always be pretty but definitely effective, battling hard in the corners and down the flanks. There was some good link up play and one two’s which was promising and more communication than usual.

All in all, a decent game in tough conditions.

Final score: Bramhall Rangers 10 Cheadle Utd Thursday 5
Goals: Pie (2), Piggy (2), Mini (2), Hedderz (2), Dr H (2).

Bramhall Rangers Match Information

Ok, so the season has finished. Stats are up here though still missing a couple of games (grr Russ - you crap head!).

Anyway golden boot standings...no, we shall wait till the awards. Needless to say I find it very interesting, though I think the missing 2 games could prove to make the results different! Well we live and learn don't we people? Never trust a Rascle to do a really difficult job, like writing people's names and some numbers on a word document and uploading it.

Mini will no doubt upload a match report later.

The Bramhall Rangers Summer 2005 Season Awards

Yes it’s that time of the season again. With the last game this week against Cheadle Utd on Thursday, it brings to close another exciting, dramatic, traumatic season, which once again has ended in disappointment for the Rangers.Anyway we are looking to have the awards ceremony a week this Friday (2nd August) at a yet to be decided venue (though we are having a change from the Meghna.

I will be sending out voting forms later this week so you can all have your votes.
Any special one off awards you propose? I will be retiring the Jacques Cousteau award and the Lee Bowyer award and I am contemplating retiring the Coco the Clown Award.We will still have:

Player Of The SeasonImproved Player Of The Season
Golden Boot (which we might have to ignore 2 games for as we don’t have the stats)
Goal Of The Season
Sicknote

The Anton Lowe Special Achievement Award will this time be presented by myself to a worthy member of the team.

Start thinking people who you may vote for and if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Registration Fees

Ok people just a quick heads up.
As this is the last game of the season we need to pay the registration fees for next season - i am informed by Mini-Man that it will be £15 extra. So between 7 of us thats an extra £2, or so.

Should be a good game this week - at least it won't be a struggle for players (i hope!). Big Rick should return and we may get a fleeting appearance from Justin! Shock horror... Mini said his ankle is feeling better so may also give it a crack.

I will assume no-one has any concerns with another season of this tot! :)

Bramhall Rangers 4 White Russians 10

On behalf on Mini, who couldn't access the blog for some reason :

Patched up Rangers crushed by the Russians!

Bramhall Rangers 4 White Russians 10

The Rangers could only manage a makeshift team for Thursday’s game this week. Many absences and last minute drop outs, led to BRFC veteran Nev having to be drafted in from the cold, after over a year since his last game. He must have thought nothing had changed as the Rangers capitulated in a 4 minute spell in the 2nd half, despite having an extra man!
The game started with Mini in goal, against his better judgement as he was still carrying the injry since the week previous. As the Rnagers should have a full quota next week Mini will probably aim to sit it out as it was only in extreme circumstances that he was willing to play this week. Piggy, Shiz, Pie, Rascle and Nev made up the rest, so not a very attacking BRFC side. And it showed.

Early exchanges were tentative, sloppy passing leading to the White Russians taking a 2-0 lead. Shot shy Rangers did get on the score sheet with Pie slotting home after a burst down the right side, holding off the man well. A failure to listen to the shouts led to another goal, Piggy intercepting a pass meant for Pie and being caught in possession on the edge of his own box. We never learn. Mini did his best to stem the tide but was tentative on his ankle. Half time came and it was 5-2, Piggy picking up the Rangers second goal.

Rangers were giving the White Russians far to much time on the ball, running back and forth on the edge of the area without a challenge, whereas the Rangers lack of movement/communication was at times painful to watch.

Second half started well, and there were no goals scored for some time, probably a combination of refreshed bodies and concentration. Rangers pulled another back, Pie slotting home a debatable goal through the keeper’s legs. It could have been in the area but so could one of theirs in the first half. Their keeper was sin binned for subsequent protests, and the WR were down to 4 men. Amazingly, the Rangers collapsed. Rather than turning the screw they allowed the Russians to score 3 goals, mainly due to lack of communication and poor challenges. At times it was embarrassing.

Shiz picked up a final consolation goal for the Rangers, coming between a couple more WR goals. The game was disheartening, and sapping with exactly the same mistakes as always. I’m all for doing the training/practice matches but if player(s) just ignore the advice and think they know best then there is little hope.

Last game of the season next and it couldn’t come to soon. We need to regroup and have a good think about how we intend to go forward.

Final Score:
White Russians 10 Rangers 4
Goals: Pie (2), Piggy (1), Shiz (1)

The Free Land Of Bramhall Rangers

Here's what looks like a fun little game :
http://www.nationstates.net
Basically you make your own little country and run it - setting things like what your currency is called and your national animal. Then you have to decide on things every day to keep it running.

I made The Free Land Of Bramhall Rangers.

This is the current state of my country...

"The Free Land of Bramhall Rangers is a tiny, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its burgeoning monkey population. Its hard-nosed, intelligent population of 5 million have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.
The large government concentrates mainly on Law & Order, although Healthcare and Education are on the agenda. The average income tax rate is 27%, but much higher for the wealthy. A large private sector is led by the Basket Weaving, Retail, and Pizza Delivery industries.
Crime is moderate. Bramhall Rangers's national animal is the monkey, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the ranger."

Bramhall Rangers Match Information

Right seeing as Russ is crap I have re-taken over keeping a track of scores, results, line-ups and all that jazz.
Have a look at Bramhall Rangers Match Information to keep up to date.

Now we are missing a couple of games back in early May, as you can see. Anyway one have any recollection of who played in them? I was in both, as was Mini. I think Mini scored both goals against Puss In Boots too. I think they were the games Belly was back in net too.

Russ - have you got them on tape at all so you can check for us?

Bramhall Rangers vs The Griswalds

It was always going to be tough. And tough it was!
With the Rangers down to 5 players, missing Hedderz and Mini (both holiday), Big Rick (back still not right), and Mark who was unable to get away from work, and the Griswalds with the full compliment. Pie's potential ringers came to nothing either.
The team was Belly in goal, Shiz, Pie, Russ and Piggy out.

And basically to cut a long boring story short we just couldn't cope, a combination of a lack of fitness and subs, and no real goal scorers. Piggy got 2 goals, and good finishes they were too - if only he will take more shots instead of taking 30 touches!
Russ and Shiz again did very well all things considering, and Belly pulled off some cracking saves to keep them Griswalds in single figures.

I was disappointed by my lack of fitness - although i suppose it was to be expected considering i haven't done anything for 3 weeks! Next week should be better. I had a poor game i felt though...I'm expecting more from myself next week.

We have the White Russians and Cheadle Utd to play, both teams still below us. If we beat White Russians next week we will finish definitely 3rd bottom. If we lose then we could finish lower.

Rangers vs Puss-In-Boots

Mini, Mini, Mini - such a slacker.
So here is a quick report, though i doubt it will be anywhere near as good as Mini's.

Final Score : Rangers 4 Puss-In-Boots 11
Scorers : Mini (3), Piggy (1)

Another understanding Rangers team fought bravely against the odds to what must be their biggest crowd ever yet. A collection of scallies on the sideline were cheering for the Rangers cause, while giving stick to both the Boots keeper and Piggy.

Missing this week were Pie (ankle), Dr H (back) and Justin (Leek), which meant we were down to one sub, though the return of Shiz was a plus. However when Mini went over on his ankle during the first half which meant he sat out of the rest of the half and hobbled through the rest of the game, you knew it was always going to be an uphill battle for them.

They started well too - Mini quickly shooting Rangers into a 1-0 lead. Half time however it was 5-1 (i think), something like that anyway, to the Puss-In-Boots. When Mini hobbled off, we were down no subs, and for some reason Piggy, being our only real striker on the pitch then, decided he was best use dribbling the ball on the edge of our own area. This meant Russ or Mark often ended up going up front, because they were making up for a lack of Piggy.

Mini returned in the second half, though wasn't fully fit and it was obvious. The Rangers struggled to make a real impact in the second half, and only some heroics from Belly really kept the score down to what it finished. A small retaliation from Rangers included 2 goals from Mini and a cracker first time from Piggy, showing just what he can do. However this half also showed the worst of Piggy, when with the ball played into his feet free on the edge of the area, instead of simply turning and shooting, he decided it would be better to play the ball back 20 yards to Shiz with a man on him. A look of amazement from the Rangers (and probably the Boots), and cheers (or maybe jeers) from the scally onlookers.

Credit must go to Shiz (who, and i don't like saying this, reads the game so well as a defender, but please never take a free kick again!), Russ (who always gives his all - puts Piggy to shame, but i think needs to curb his attacking instincts somewhat, never mind the lack of movement from some of the rest of the team at times) and Mr T who made some great runs (though perhaps needs to learn to go to the ball when passed). Belly was excellent as usual (though i think could do with trying to bounce some throw ins off the boards. Mini, well took one for the cause with playing on while injured (learning from the master there!!) though wasn't quite his usual self. Still showed some nice touches though. Piggy, as always, was very frustrating. Only once got above a jog. Only once showed some aggression (against the boards, not the opposition), wants 20 touches when one would do, still hangs back to much and dribbles on the edge of his area and...well need i go on?

Next week its the Griswalds @ 7.30pm.

Season so far…

Ok, in my many free minutes had a tot up of some stats.

Golden Boot based on info that is on the blog, is as follows:

Mini 16
Hedderz 9
Shiz 4
Piggy 4
Dr H 3
Pie 2
Mr T 1
Rascle 1

Now this is based on very sparse information, that being only 6 games. We are missing stats for ED, PiB, TG and WR. I know Russ filmed a couple of these so if you want to dig them out and put up some numbers then that would be nice.

I know we don’t want to start competing with one another but a bit of healthy competition wouldn’t go amiss. Also, the end of season awards, if we do them again, will be slightly dull with no moments or stats to discuss.

Cheers,
:)