Bramhall Rangers 3 Thirsty FC 6

"It was a game of two halves, literally!" - Chris Powell

Just a short report for this game. It was the same team as last week, with Grim again joining the usual 6.

The first half was a really good game - the Rangers having the upper hand with some excellent defending and at times some fantastic attacking football. I took a while for the first goal, chances came and went before Mini opened the scoring with a deft finish. Pie was then sent through to cooly place the ball past the keeper, and though Thirsty pulled a goal back, a goal from Grim made it 3-1 at the break. The general consensus was we were doing well, and just to keep it going.

It had been a good fair game up until then however the second half would prove to be a different affair. A lack of fitness started to take its toll on the Rangers, and when Grim had to retire from the game due to injury half way through the second half we never really recovered. Added to this some bizarre refeereeing (including blowing for a foul, everybody stopping except for the Thirsty player who shot and scored anyway but then deciding the goal should stand!!) it really was a second half to forget...

Surprisingly despite the 2 losses on the trot, the Rangers are still holding onto 2nd spot in the league, albeit only on goal difference to the Canaries (the Rangers are the second top goalscorers in the league this season!)

The next game is against runaway leaders Puss-In-Boots, and the Rangers will be hoping to push them again like in the first game of the season.

Final Score : Bramhall Rangers 3 Thirsty 6
Goals: Mini (1), Pie (1), Grim (1)

Bramhall Rangers 2 Bredbury Athletic 9

"A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad."
Some guy called Bob Edwards

The run had to come to an end sometime, however it was perhaps surrendered a little easier than it should have been.

The Rangers were aiming to make it 5 wins in 5 games and went into the game full of confidence. Lifey dropped out with a bruised shin (and perhaps a bruised ego after his sin-binning last week) and was replaced by Grim, otherwise it was as you were.

The first half was a fairly open half, Didsbury perhaps had a little more of the possession but both sides had really good chances. Belly was performing brilliantly in the Rangers goal, perhaps only outshone by the keeper at the other end.

One moment of amusement for both teams happened when early on, Pie broke free towards one corner. While putting his foot on the ball to hold it up waiting for support, he stood on the ball and ended up flat on his back. Much to the amusement of both teams, and the embarrassment of Pie!

As the first half drew on, it looked like it was going to be one of those games where it would just take a lucky deflection to score the first goal, and it so proved when towards the end of the half a Disbury shot hit the inside of Belly's leg and popped in.

There was just chance for Belch to save a shot with his face, a blow which left him dazed for a couple of minutes before the ref blew. 1-0 at half time. It had been a tough half but the Rangers were still in with a chance. They just needed to find a way past the Didsbury goalkeeper.

In the second half the Rangers performance fell apart. Sloppy mistakes from a number of the Rangers team gave goals away, and they again struggled to find a way passed the Didsbury goalie.

A chance came when one of the Didsbury players encroached in the area. Penalty! Pie stepped up, confident after his successful penalty and hat-trick in the week before. He stepped, with the intention of using the same technique as the week before - smash it straight down the middle. He succeeded in doing this, only to get his foot slightly under the ball and crash his shot against the crossbar! It really was one of those games...

Shortly after and the Rangers got another penalty. This time Pie wasn't on the pitch (much to the relief of the crossbar!), so Mini duely obliged and placed the ball calmly in the corner. Finally a goal!

The second followed shortly after when Grim, who had been foiled on numerous occasions by the Didsbury number 1, managed to lift the ball into the back of the net.

The action wasn't quite complete there. After a number of hefty challenges against the boards and elsewhere on the pitch by the Didsbury players to which the referee wasn't having a word, Mini decided to take the law into his own hands and creamed on of the opposition against the door. The ref decided now was the time to have a word (the first foul by a Ranger) and cautioned Mini to be careful. Mini wasn't done though, and quickly tripped a Didsbury player in the centre of the park, a quite cynical foul. The ref sin binned Mini (so we have a new record of 2 sin binning in 2 games) and the Rangers had to battle on for a short while a man down.

All in all a particularly underwhelming performance, especially in the second half. Its probably best just to put this one behind us and forget about it.

One point of note I would like to reinforce again, and I was as much at fault for this as anyone, is to be aware of the players around you. There were a number of times, especially in the second half when all 4 outfield players had pushed up which meant that when Didsbury broke they had 2 or sometimes 3 men free. Someone really needs to hang back, I suggest one of the more defensive players however I appreciate it can often be difficult to regulate this.

Hopefully we can get back to winning ways next week!

Final Score: Bramhall Rangers 2 Bredbury Athletic 9
Scorers: Mini (1), Grim (1)

Bramhall Rangers 2 Bredbury Athletic 9

"It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way" - Aristotle (Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist)

The Ranger’s winning streak was brought to an end last night after a well drilled Bredbury Athletic threw the recent form book out of the window to register what looks like an easy victory. Rangers lined up with the regulars and Grim joining the party after a long absence.

The first half was one of the tightest for some time and in was through good defending, poor finishing and great goalkeeping from both sides that kept the score so low. Mini, Grin, Pie and Peter were all guilty of missing guilt edge chances for the Rangers, The Athletic keeper having an inspired game.

As the half progressed it became clear that the breakthrough was going to come after a defensive error and this was to be the case. Nearly on the stroke of half time, Athletic took the lead managing to squeeze an effort through.

The effort put in in the first half seemed to take its toll on the Rangers more than Athletic and it wasn’t too long before they had stretched their lead as the game was more spaced and there was more time on the ball. An incredible number of chances were still not converted by the BRFC on a day when their finishing was poor. Not to take anything away from the keeper though who was inspired throughout. It looked like he would take a prized clean sheet (a rare thing in 5 a side). This was made all the more possible when Pie smashed a penalty onto the underside of the bar only for it to bounce clear.

It wasn’t until mid way through the second half that the Rangers did eventually breach the defence. A carbon copy penalty with a defender running through the area. Mini opted to take this one and with a cool shimmy slotted the ball to the right of the keeper as he dived left. Small consolation for the Rangers.

A few late challenges on the boards angered Mini towards the end of the game and went unpunished by the referee. Mini’s hot streak got the better of him and after two late challenges he was sin binned for two minutes. It was the correct decision but sometimes the lack of protection for players can be quite disturbing. Rangers coped well when a man down and Nev in particular showed great character to marshal the troops, putting his sizeable backside in the firing line. IIRC one goal was scored in that time. Grim was the main attacking threat and after returning to full quota grabbed a deserved goal after being denied on several occasions. He danced through the defence to finish smartly.

The first half seemed to sap the Rangers which made it very hard in the second. The blues need to put this game to the back of their mind and focus on next weeks clash with Thirsty FC.

Final score – Bramhall Rangers 2 Bredbury Athletic 9
Goals – Mini (1), Grim (1)

100 games for Mini

Just to continue the trend of marking the big milestones, last weeks game against Northern Canaries marked the 100th game for the Rangers for Mini.

In his 100 games Mini has scored a fantastic 266 goals (thats 2.66 a game on average!). He joins Pie and Piggy as the 3rd Ranger to achieve this target.

The next to reach this landmark will be Shiz, who is currently on 91 games.

Bramhall Rangers 9 - Northern Canaries 7

"I think that was a moment of cool panic there."

Ron Atkinson

The ‘hall were up against old rivals Northern Canaries last night in what to proved to be quite a physical affair. Rangers seemed to be the better team but made hard work of it and at times looked close to losing the lead.

The lineup was promising for Bramhall with the regular solid defence of Shiz and Nev along with more attacking regulars Pie, Big Pete and Mini. Lifey was also brought in to add some flair to the team and another pair of striking boots. Belly was in net, minus the glasses of wine this time.

The Canaries seemed to have the usual suspects along with someone not seen before, and no subs which was an obvious advantage for Bramhall.

Things began well for the Rangers with Mini and Lifey opening up the scoring. As the first half went on some defensive and goalkeeping faults led to a couple of Canaries goals. Belly was having trouble with throw outs, giving the opposition the ball several times. Nev and Shiz also came to his aid on a number of occasions, one in particular involving Shiz running most of the length of the pitch to cut out a one-on-one.

Belly did do something to repay his debt – when Lifey’s foot encroached in the area it was a Canaries penalty, and Belly managed to dive the right way and save Speccy’s attempt.

At the other end of the pitch there were some good scoring opportunities, but some shots were off target and the Canaries keeper was doing a good job of keeping the others out of the net.

The game soon began getting quite physical with a number of slides by both teams and lots of pushing. The ref was having none of it and seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the game going.

At half time it was something in the region of 5-2 to Bramhall, what seems to be a fairly common score line these days for the ‘hall.

By now the Rangers seem to realise not to drop the pressure in the second half and went into it full pelt.

The second half saw a lot more physical play, including Shiz going into a Canaries player (the one who likes to shout at anyone who’ll listen) and flooring him in the corner of Bramhall’s half. The ref had a word but Shiz was having none of it and rightly told the Canaries player not to be such a big girl (or something of that persuasion).

As the Rangers became riled by the physical play the Canaries took advantage and began closing the gap. But this was never for long and the Rangers soon answered back each time with more goals, a lot of which seemed to come from Canaries mistakes and were skillfully pounced on.

The second half also saw a lot more of Lifey, the Rangers ringer who started telling the ref how to do his job and giving as good as he got from the Canaries physical play. Perhaps he had heard about the old bet on who could floor the spectacled Canary first – when he was given a shove by said Canary he pushed back twice, perhaps thrice as hard and floored the poor guy.

The ref didn’t hesitate to send Lifey off for two minutes. This left the Rangers with a man down and the defending was superb during this time. The Canaries did well trying to take advantage of the extra man but never managed to get a goal during that time.

As the half went on more goals were scored by Mini, Lifey, Pie and Pete. The Canaries went in their own area at one point giving Rangers a penalty. Pie stepped up and finished cleanly.

Nearing the end of the match the Rangers seemed to fall asleep, more defensively and in goal. The Canaries got two goals, both of which slipped under the Bramhall keeper. But the Rangers saw that their lead was slipping and held on. It was a struggle in the last few minutes but the ‘hall battled well and managed to hold on to their victory.

And so the Rangers finished with a second win against the Northern Canaries, four wins in a row and four wins out of five in the league.

League standings were not up to date at time of writing, so the ‘hall are either joint top (but with a lower goal difference than PIB) or still sitting second with three points either side of them. What a start to the season!

Goals: Pie(3), Mini(2), Lifey(2), Pete(2)

Comprehensive Ranger's Statistics

Myself and Pie have managed to create a link on the blog to the stats for the Rangers going back many seasons.

If you click on the Squad tab it should take you to the spreadsheet. We think you may need a google account to view it, but I think most, if not all of us, have upgraded to this (apart from Peter). I will update the stats weekly and it should update online automatically...hopefully.

People can keep an eye out for upcoming milestones and what not.

Alternatively the link is:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p11TDa-XfPPA1Xnrxno0kLQ

Bramhall Rangers 12 Cheadle United 6

The Rangers made it an impressive 3 wins in 3 games with victory over Cheadle United. The late kick off saw the return of two Rangers Old Boys, a drunk keeper and The Worst Dressed Man In Football (TM) come together.

Shiz was missing, away with Fist and Anton in Czech Republic. Taking his place were Hedderz and Lifey, returning for the first time in a while. Nev also returned, and lined up with Pie, Mini, Peter outfield and Belch in net. Belch had been struggling all week with bruised fingers, and for a while it was touch and go if he would make it. However, as we lined up for kick off he informed us that he'd be fine - he'd had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and so that would numb the pain!! I'm not sure its part of the recommended pre-match warm-up, but it didn't seem to hinder Belly!

The Rangers went 3-0 up too, two goals from Mini and one from Peter, as well as having a number of chances. Pie in particular missed 3 one-on-ones, as well as just being short on another chance. While it was reasonably comfortable for the Rangers, CUT hit the woodwork 3 times (two from great saves from Belch just pushing shots onto the post).

However as is always the way with the Rangers, complacency set in, and CUT hit back to equalise. This was disappointing for the Rangers, who really weren't being clinical in front of goal.

At half time though it was 4-3 (if i remember!). I think Lifey had registered the 4th.

The second half saw a more organised performance, as the Rangers started to make the tired CUT pay. Peter registered again, as did Lifey, before Pie crashed home two goals after dallying from the CUT defence. Mini and Lifey got a couple more, before the moment came when Hedderz, who had been trying his trademark piledrivers from all over the pitch to no avail, finally managed to tap a rebound home. Relief more than anything was evident on his face!

It finished 12-6 to the Rangers, and was a deserved win. Both halves we were guilty of perhaps taking our foot off the gas a little, as well as not being as clinical with our finishing as we should have done. We all indidually seemed to get a little greedy at times as well - shooting or dribbling and losing the ball when the easy pass to a team mate was on.

However not to dwell on the negatives, the plus side was we didn't miss Shiz as much as perhaps anticipated, and it was good to see Lifey and Hedderz return. We won again, and scored 12 goals which was nice to see.

Next week will see a tough clash against Northern Canaries, with an 8.30pm kick off. Can the Rangers see off the Canaries to make it 4 wins in 4 games...?

Bramhall Rangers 12 Cheadle United 6
Goals: Mini (4), Lifey (3), Piggy (2), Pie (2), Hedderz (1)

Mini Shows Scotland How It's Done

During the weekend's trip to Glasgow, Mini and Pie took a tour round the home of Scottish football - Hamden Park - and the Scottish Football Museum.

As we were shown the warm up area, there was a shot speed recorder which you could have a go at.


Here is Mini having a go - reaching 51 miles per hour with his shot, which was the highest anyone on the tour reached. Lovely technique mind...

Pie managed 41 miles per hour, despite not having suitable footwear for the occasion!

Both of these were (allegedly) better than the whole Scottish football team combined...

THURSDAY EVENING LEAGUE SPRING 2007

Current standings:

THURSDAY EVENING LEAGUE SPRING 2007
Division: 6

Team NameP W D L PP GF GA Pts Df
----------------------------------- -- -- --
PUSS IN BOOTS (THU) 3 3 0 0 0 36 14 9 22
NORTHERN CANARIES 3 3 0 0 0 27 15 9 12
BREDBURY ATHLETIC 3 2 0 1 0 20 13 6 7
BRAMHALL RANGERS 3 2 0 1 0 26 24 6 2
CHEADLE UNITED 3 1 0 2 0 20 19 3 1
THIRSTY 3 1 0 2 0 14 19 3 - 5
TORPEDO EMISSIONS 3 0 0 3 0 15 24 0 - 9
EAT MY GOAL 3 0 0 3 0 11 41 0 - 30