Bramhall Rangers 6 Torpedo Emissions 8

"That's how you do it!" - Mr Nev 10/05/07

A patch work Rangers team put in a decent performance in what was a close encounter. Pie was absent with the sniffles, Peter had suffered a pulled muscle in his ribs from skipping….yes skipping!, Shiz was attending a conference on line dancing and Rascle was continuing to single handidly run Sudexho by working from 4am right through to 11 pm without breaks. An absentee list as long as your leg, unless you are Heather McCartney!

Still, Hedderz made a rare appearance, running out for the first time since 12-6 win over Cheadle Utd when he bagged a goal. Fortunately, Hedderz was able to convince two ringers Paul and Chris to make their Rangers debuts. Belly as usual was in the stick, Nev and Mini the other regular Rangers. Peter was a willing cheerleader.

The game was close, and despite struggling to cope with the early pace, Paul and Chris settled well and proved able players. Torpedo Emissions were a decent side and IIRC fielded the same players as last time out. They were able to take the lead and seemed in control of the game with the Rangers struggling to find the target despite a lot of space for both sides. Belly was unlucky in that the ball deflected up off him and into the net. Rangers fell further behind but gave themselves a lifeline when Paul found himself free on the edge of the box and fired home through the keeper’s legs.

The game was quite stretched and although Rangers never looked totally in control there were some excellent passing moves including Hedderz and Chris, who linked up well but just failed to execute the killer pass or shot. Towards the end of the half Mini played a pass to Hedderz and (as usually happens at least once a season!) crumpled to the floor after turning on his right ankle. An odd crunch signalled that Mini would have to hobble off and it would remain to be seen whether he could return. Peter supplied some ice and after a rush of adrenaline and some off field jogs Mini deemed himself able to continue at about 75% capacity. Hoping to wait until half time before returning the needs of the team and a tired Hedderz saw Mini return for a cameo at the end of the half.

Great pressure in one of the corners forced a mix-up between defence and keeper leading to a penalty to the Rangers for infringement. Mini, being closest to the spot after just running on greedily took the ball for the pen. Despite being unsure of his right ankle and foot Mini despatched the penalty, as usual to the left as the keeper dived right. If any teams made notes this is where he always puts them!

At half time it was 4-2 or something similar. Nev was having a particularly good game both in defence and pushing forward. Belly also up to his usual standard was managing to keep the Emissions at bay (so to speak!) however, midway through the game managed to rip a couple of big holes in his child-like gloves. This didn’t seem to hamper his performance though.

The second half was an equally tight affair, and Torpedo were adept at passing the ball around without making to many inroads. Their possession football at the back and middle of the park was not hurting the Rangers but equally the Rangers were struggling to claw back the deficit as they could get hold of the ball for too long and when they did chances were squandered. Trying to push on for goals the Rangers were more exposed at the back so the lead widened slightly.
Torpedo were getting the luck of the draw and a speculative effort from distance took a massive deflection off Hedderz’s massive thighs and with Belly committed to his left the ball swirled and spun and dropped in Belly’s bottom right corner.

Going into the final push Rangers clawed their way back. It came from an unlikely source too, Nev pushing forward found himself able to fire off a shot from the far right side across the keeper and in off the post. It was a clinical finish. A cry of “that’s how you do it!” echoed around Powerleague and was the boost that the Rangers needed to spur them on.

Immediately after this, lady luck shined on Torpedo again. Pinball around the edge of Belly’s box and failed clearances put Rangers under pressure. Despite two smashing tackles from Nev and Hedderz the ball just wouldn’t be cleared. Belly was trying to maintain composure and advancing out of his goal the ball bounced up and struck Nev on the shin deflecting it goal wards. Again Belly was wrong footed, and despite what looked like a push on Nev to propel the ball, it slowly crossed the line and the goal was given.

Going in to the final 7 minutes or so, Mini was more of a hindrance than a help with his dodgy ankle so switched with Belly. This extra freshness proved a good input outfield. In the sticks Mini was beaten twice, once through the legs after coming out to meet the attacker and the other after diving to soon to prevent what should have been a regulation shot.

Just before this change Chris was on the receiving end of a powerful drive into his Johnson. An eye watering “oompffhhh!” was heard and he actually crawled off the pitch. After that brief stoppage and the change of keeper Rangers pushed on with nothing to lose. Hedderz managed to get his first of the game firing low though the keeper’s legs. After counting his meat and two veg Chris returned to the action, obviously fired up. He finished well after another crafted move and Torpedo were nervous as Rangers were staging a comeback.

The final memorable action of the game saw Chris sonically fouled right on the edge of the area after being through on the keeper about to shoot. What normally would have been a pointless free-kick was expertly dispatched with the outside of the right boot for Hedderz second of the game.

Unfortunately, this was the last action. Had the game gone on for five more minutes the Rangers may have salvaged something. In the end it was a heavily deflected goal and a disputed OG which was the difference between the two sides.

Our thanks to Chris and Paul for coming to our aid, and special mention to Nev for scoring his first of the season and drawing level with OG’s in the overall scoring charts now only one behind long term absentee Mr T.

Next week will be an interesting one. With belly, Shiz, Rascle and Hedderz committed to the Manchester 10km Rangers will only have Mini, Pie, Peter and Nev as regulars pending fitness tests. A call for Rangers ringers will have to be made.

Final score – Bramhall Rangers 6 Torpedo Emissions 8
Goals – Hedderz (2), Mini (1), Chris (1), Paul (1), Nev (1)