Against Launceston City the Northern Rangers Under 18s went on to the park aware of what was expected of them under their new Coach and followed the game plan exactly as instructed.  After 45 minutes of play, with the score at 0 -0  Coach John Crooks who had used the half to meet and see players in various positions  put his own experience at this level to the test.

Crooks made some positional changes and used the substitution rules to the teams benefit.

After a first half when numerous opportunities were created and to a degree were wasted, the second half saw a new ‘line-up’ of players. 

Within the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Rangers went in front with the opening goal coming from Kiren van Donselaar up front, and again a  few minutes later he got his second. From here on Rangers totally dominated the game with further goals from Pat Lanu-Atkinson (1) Thun Tlawng (1) followed by a hat-trick from Nelson Namsang who worked hard and deserved each and every goal.

Opportunities created throughout the game saw Rangers with approx. 90% of possession and chances created could have resulted in a far bigger score-line, but Crooks was more than happy with the overall performance and was personally happy to see the Under 16s he and Phil van Donselaar had worked with the previous year had made the step-up.  These young players will be pushing for places further up in the Club as early as next year,  giving the Club players of ability and quality over the next couple of seasons.

Finishing with a score of 7-0 Coach John Crooks thanked the players and staff (Phil van Donselaar, Brendan Lichtendonk, Mark Ackerly, Luke Connors, Marshall Pooley, Andrew Nicholson and Gareth Otley in particular) for the Clubs commitment shown to the ‘Unders’ especially lately under the circumstances, but Crooks said he “looks forward to the challenge of taking the Under 18s to the level of previous years under Roslan Sa’ad with a side that will be able to challenge for a top placing”