Northern Rangers went in with some injury concerns to the match against Clarence in the Quarter Final of the State Wide Championship, but still confident that they could win.  Clarence were at full strength and Andrew Brown said prior to the match that there were no excuses today.

The wind was howling but the ground was in fine condition and all looked forward to a tight game.

Clarence kicked with the breeze first up and put pressure on the Rangers with the use of it, but Rangers looked dangerous on the counter, and made many chances this way. 

Chris Hunt was looking particular hungry to score against his old team and was covering a lot of ground, but school boy errors were causing Rangers to uncharacteristically turn over possession throughout midfield.

Clarence scored a chance goal when the defense failed to clear a loose ball in the 18 yard box and delicate shot sailed with the wind into net to put Clarence ahead, a classic example of a good side taking the small chances that come their way.

Ranger looked to score and go into half time at even, but couldn’t create the goal from some good chances.

Second half and Rangers started to take some control of midfield.  Jago received a great chance just inside 18 yard but the shot was straight at the keepers chest.

At the other end Clarence took a short corner, the shot was sent in and Dumbuya put a foot in front a ball Pooley in goals had called for and the deflection ended up in the net from a soft shot that should never have registered the attention of the highlights real.

As Ranges then chased the game to try and get back into things, Clarence were able to open the back line up and threatened to score more goals.

Another unfortunate event as Declan Cuschieri flicked the ball up onto hand with no intent and little advantage but Chris Parr quickly blew his whistle for a penalty which was converted and Rangers were 3-0 down.

The side never gave and continued to push and Chris Hunt scored with a strong drive that the keeper could only parry into the goal.

Northern Rangers have missed out on their third straight Northern Premier League title on goal difference to Prospect Knights, despite winning their final match against Ulverstone 2-0.  The Club has finished the 2011 season level on points with Prospect Knights, but the Knights secured the title thanks to a 7 goal buffer in the goal difference column.

For Rangers to be assured of the title, Devonport needed at least to draw with Prospect, while Rangers had to secure a win against Ulverstone.  The club did everything they could, but the destiny was ultimately in the lap of the football gods, and Prospect won a tight tussle at Harley Parade.

This over shadows some other club milestones that included setting a few new club records.  The highest amount of points in a season was secured with 40, 1 point up on last year, and setting a club record for consecutive league wins, out to eight at the moment, and looking forward to building on that in 2012.

To the Rangers match with Ulverstone, Adam Whitemore and Tony Ludby had some shuffling to do with Scott Murray out for the rest of the season as he prepares for his academy time in the UK, Jago was back to fitness though, but unfortunately after a promising return from injury, Mark Ambrose was back on the injury list.

Patty Lanau-Atkinson dropped into midfield to cover Murray while Jago replaced Lanau-Atkinson upfront.

Football Federation are making a habit of rostering big games between Devonport and Northern Rangers at the business end of the season, three years running now and 2011 was almost as big as 2009 when the club secured its maiden premiership in their last match of the year.

The equation this year was pretty simple, win and stay in the race, lose or draw and drop out.  For Devonport, a draw would have been acceptable, but a win preferable, Devonport’s superior goal difference and the fact they play both challenges in the race in the last two games in Rangers then Knights, had them in the best seat going into the second last round, and probably took the favourites tick going into the match. 

Across town Prospect Knights played Launceston City, and the assumption was that Knights would win easily, and they did, toppling Launceston City 4-0.

Rangers were at full strength for the first time this year, the only exception Stefan Jago running in the reserves as his groin is still far from perfect.  Devonport also had a full list to pick from so the stage was set for a big match.

There is no room for a lapse in concentration in the remainder of the year for the defending champions Northern Rangers.  Each game is effectively a do or die fixture with Devonport, Prospect and Rangers all separated by a single point in the run home to the title, a loss for Rangers will see them slip from contention, so this week remained as important and required a great deal of commitment and application to complete the task.

It was top versus bottom and a game Rangers were not only expected to win, but expecting themselves to win.  A large amount of rain during the week had all expecting the ground to be a slurry, but credit to Paul Medcraft and his ground staff, the NTCA surface was in fine condition.

Northern Rangers had all to play for against Prospect Knights this week, in fact the winner was destined to take over top spot for the week with Devonport taking a week off for the bye.

A big occasion for Derek Schipper who celebrated his 200^th game, and what a match to do it.

Northern Rangers fronted up for what everyone expected to be a tough State Wide Cup game, but no one expected it to be this tough.

It took a moment of absolute brilliance from Andrew Nicholson to deliver Northern Rangers a deserved victory over their rivals Launceston City, and it will be spoken about for years to come.

Northern Rangers fronted up for their only game under lights at the NTCA this year, but had to face up without in form striker Chris Hunt, who had ruled himself out of the clash so as to be able to prepare for his university exams.  Adam Beard and Issa Dumbuya were both available again though after serving one week suspensions from the match against Burnie.  Beard started for Hunt while Dumbuya came on from the bench.

Northern Rangers impressive record at the NTCA continued this weekend with a dominate display against a disappointing Riverside outfit.  The clubs consecutive run of clean sheets at the NTCA now spans across more than 480 minutes of football and stands at 15 – 0.  Perhaps more impressive is the home record against Riverside of late, since 2007 Rangers have won 6-1, 4-2, 5-2 and now 5-0 at the NTCA.