Bramhall Rangers 5 Weekend Wanderers 8
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - cigar smoking British hero Sir Winston Churchill
There was a game in the past (can’t remember which one) when the world contrived to make it as difficult as possible for the Ranger’s. Amongst other things Mr T was stranded half way to Powerleague with a puncture. In the run up to this game against new boys Weekend Wanderers, expectations were high. Belly, Mr T, Mini, Peter and Rascle were all available and would be joined in the squad by Hedderz and Mini’s workmate Jim.
However, at 18:30, half an hour before the KO, things took a turn for the worst. Firstly, a call from Rascle to say that the buses were having a nightmare and none were travelling the direction of Powerleague…he would never get to the game in time despite being “well up for tonight’s match”. Scuppered by public transport. Although damaging to our chances it wasn’t the end of the world as we would still have 6…or would we?
On hanging up from Rascle, Mini noticed a new txt message from Mr T. It read like this, “I’m sat in heavy traffic on the way home from work. Accident on the Roscoe’s roundabout. V unlikely I will make 1st half”. Oh, goody! This was compounded by a text at just before KO elaborating slightly, “Should be back in Marp at 10 at a push”. This was sent at 18:50pm!! So 5 it would be, and that was only the start of the fun!
To compound the misery, WW lined up with 8 in the squad and looked a decent outfit. Although they had steadily made their way DOWN the leagues they were still a very capable side. It was important for the Rangers to get some goals this week and it started well. Hedderz and Jim combined down the right side to shift the ball across the edge of the area for Mini to stab home. The contest was very even, and BRFC were moving the ball around well. Hedderz, Mini and Jim were all comfortable on the ball and Peter was a willing runner. WW did grab a few goals as they broke Rangers down but never were the blues embarrassed.
A happy sight was that of Hedderz creaming home a powerful effort after a free kick lay off from Mini. His last goal had come in the winter ’05 season many months ago. Back on the goal trail!
Every outfield player was looking decent going forward and there was some superb football being played at times. Passing and moving was key and also if the Rangers failed to break through there was always an outlet in defence to keep possession and start again. Jim was able to notch a goal from an acute angle on the left of the area, with a sliced effort that the keeper probably should have done better with.
Half time came and it was 4-3 to the WW. During the half no fewer than 3 balls had been hoofed over the fence into the nettles at the back of the pitches. Rangers took these chances to take in the air and this break up in play was certainly helping.
During the second half Rangers found it a little harder as they tired, but were still difficult to breakdown. When the WW got some space they were showing they could finish very well, so cutting out the chances was important. Although Rangers did fall further behind, Peter made sure all the outfield players scored by finishing off a magnificent passing move involving all the players. Hedderz could have had a second too and teed the ball up perfectly from just inside the opposition half. Just as he swung to strike the ball, it was whipped away in a superb tackle…by Peter. He had nipped in and touched the ball away from Hedderz, giving possession back to the WW.
It was towards the end of the half that the Rangers slogan of “How do you like them apples!?!” came to life. Some youths, most probably with ASBO’s decided it would be funny to launch a few apples from behind the nettles directly onto our pitch. It started with a few smaller ones but after 5 minutes quite large tennis ball sized apples were raining in from all angles. Powerless to stop it the game had to go on, with serious risk to the players. A hit to the head would have caused a nasty injury. No-one was willing to go out to them as a WW player said last week the scallies had a pellet gun and were taking pot shots at players! Forget the cauldrons of fire that you get in Turkey and Macedonia! Powerleague is a hot bed of hooliganism!
Fortunately, no one was struck by a fruity bomb, however the play was disrupted. Mini was excellently dispossessed by a stray apple whilst advancing down the fence and Jim suffered a twist of the ankle when he trod on one trying to turn! Rangers have had some bizarre injuries in their time, but that was one of the weirdest! Again though, with players looking to the skies to protect themselves it broke up play sufficiently for the Rangers to be able to cope with the WW attacks. They never fully exploited the Rangers lack of players or options. Mini and Peter broke forward in the last few minutes and a square ball found Peter who dinked the ball over the advancing keeper. It was a nice finish to another good move.
Belly, in his second game back acquitted himself well and was back into the grove of his ice hockey style saves. He could do little about any of the goals and will be pleased to get another game under his belt. Hedderz was excellent and coped well despite not having played regularly for nearly a year and Jim will be a very good player to call on in the future.
Final score – Bramhall Rangers 5 Weekend Wanderers 8
Goals – Peter (2), Mini (1), Hedderz (1), Jim (1)
There was a game in the past (can’t remember which one) when the world contrived to make it as difficult as possible for the Ranger’s. Amongst other things Mr T was stranded half way to Powerleague with a puncture. In the run up to this game against new boys Weekend Wanderers, expectations were high. Belly, Mr T, Mini, Peter and Rascle were all available and would be joined in the squad by Hedderz and Mini’s workmate Jim.
However, at 18:30, half an hour before the KO, things took a turn for the worst. Firstly, a call from Rascle to say that the buses were having a nightmare and none were travelling the direction of Powerleague…he would never get to the game in time despite being “well up for tonight’s match”. Scuppered by public transport. Although damaging to our chances it wasn’t the end of the world as we would still have 6…or would we?
On hanging up from Rascle, Mini noticed a new txt message from Mr T. It read like this, “I’m sat in heavy traffic on the way home from work. Accident on the Roscoe’s roundabout. V unlikely I will make 1st half”. Oh, goody! This was compounded by a text at just before KO elaborating slightly, “Should be back in Marp at 10 at a push”. This was sent at 18:50pm!! So 5 it would be, and that was only the start of the fun!
To compound the misery, WW lined up with 8 in the squad and looked a decent outfit. Although they had steadily made their way DOWN the leagues they were still a very capable side. It was important for the Rangers to get some goals this week and it started well. Hedderz and Jim combined down the right side to shift the ball across the edge of the area for Mini to stab home. The contest was very even, and BRFC were moving the ball around well. Hedderz, Mini and Jim were all comfortable on the ball and Peter was a willing runner. WW did grab a few goals as they broke Rangers down but never were the blues embarrassed.
A happy sight was that of Hedderz creaming home a powerful effort after a free kick lay off from Mini. His last goal had come in the winter ’05 season many months ago. Back on the goal trail!
Every outfield player was looking decent going forward and there was some superb football being played at times. Passing and moving was key and also if the Rangers failed to break through there was always an outlet in defence to keep possession and start again. Jim was able to notch a goal from an acute angle on the left of the area, with a sliced effort that the keeper probably should have done better with.
Half time came and it was 4-3 to the WW. During the half no fewer than 3 balls had been hoofed over the fence into the nettles at the back of the pitches. Rangers took these chances to take in the air and this break up in play was certainly helping.
During the second half Rangers found it a little harder as they tired, but were still difficult to breakdown. When the WW got some space they were showing they could finish very well, so cutting out the chances was important. Although Rangers did fall further behind, Peter made sure all the outfield players scored by finishing off a magnificent passing move involving all the players. Hedderz could have had a second too and teed the ball up perfectly from just inside the opposition half. Just as he swung to strike the ball, it was whipped away in a superb tackle…by Peter. He had nipped in and touched the ball away from Hedderz, giving possession back to the WW.
It was towards the end of the half that the Rangers slogan of “How do you like them apples!?!” came to life. Some youths, most probably with ASBO’s decided it would be funny to launch a few apples from behind the nettles directly onto our pitch. It started with a few smaller ones but after 5 minutes quite large tennis ball sized apples were raining in from all angles. Powerless to stop it the game had to go on, with serious risk to the players. A hit to the head would have caused a nasty injury. No-one was willing to go out to them as a WW player said last week the scallies had a pellet gun and were taking pot shots at players! Forget the cauldrons of fire that you get in Turkey and Macedonia! Powerleague is a hot bed of hooliganism!
Fortunately, no one was struck by a fruity bomb, however the play was disrupted. Mini was excellently dispossessed by a stray apple whilst advancing down the fence and Jim suffered a twist of the ankle when he trod on one trying to turn! Rangers have had some bizarre injuries in their time, but that was one of the weirdest! Again though, with players looking to the skies to protect themselves it broke up play sufficiently for the Rangers to be able to cope with the WW attacks. They never fully exploited the Rangers lack of players or options. Mini and Peter broke forward in the last few minutes and a square ball found Peter who dinked the ball over the advancing keeper. It was a nice finish to another good move.
Belly, in his second game back acquitted himself well and was back into the grove of his ice hockey style saves. He could do little about any of the goals and will be pleased to get another game under his belt. Hedderz was excellent and coped well despite not having played regularly for nearly a year and Jim will be a very good player to call on in the future.
Final score – Bramhall Rangers 5 Weekend Wanderers 8
Goals – Peter (2), Mini (1), Hedderz (1), Jim (1)
posted by Mini at 8:48 am
1 Comments:
I thought a good all round performance as well. Especially Justin. Thanks for the game mate it was inspired. On a completely separate matter, Mini its a good job you weren't driving you looked wasted on one of those Russ photos.
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