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Northern Rangers came up against Launceston City at Mitsubishi Park in round 3 of the Forestry Tasmania Northern Premier League.  Rangers were missing Stefan Jago, Scott Murray and Ayden Demeijer while Ruben Gee is coming through Division 1 on return from injury out of the squads this weekend.

In came Sam Luck from suspension while there were no other changes from last week’s side against Burnie.

Rangers started well and possession was being controlled well, though turn overs were the order of the day with the ball missing its mark at times.

Rangers had some strong chances in the first half to go ahead, Andrew Nicholson particularly getting in behind the back four, but he was not at his clinical best this week and could not break the dead lock in the first half.

The City midfield were keeping Rangers trio in Hingston, Schipper and Lanau-Atkinson under tight reign and Rangers were not able to dominate and distribute out of midfield as well as in previous encounters.

Some suspect off side calls also restricted Rangers from opening the scoring with Nicholson and Lanau-Atkinson denied direct paths to goal courtesy of some inexperienced club line work, to which centre referee Mark Spicer eventually had to have replaced mid-way through the first half.

Nil all at half time.

Both sides picked up from where they left off in the second half and the game continued with little difference from the first.  Josh van Zetten was getting into some great scoring positions, going one on one with the keeper but hitting the cross bar and miss hitting a great low cross from Derek Schipper.  Van Zetten was eventually replaced by Mark Ambrose in the second half.

Rangers thought they had been reduced to ten men and conceded a penalty after Declan Cuschieri was adjudged to have taken down the attacker on rout to goal, but the new club linesmen Mr Brown-Price had flagged for off side and the decision was eventually reversed after Mr Spicer consulted with his assistant.

Rangers continued to push for the winner and continued to create chances, but the City keeper David Smith was in good form and denied Rangers from one on one chances on more than 6 occasions.  Derek Schipper had the best of them.

City were creating chances, predominantly from free kicks and set plays, but Marshall Pooley was precise in every chance to collect the ball with little trouble.

Rangers had one final chance to win in the last play of the day when the City keeper David Smith picked up a back pass from his defender inside the six yard box, the indirect free kick was struck on target by Todd Hingston but deflected of the defensive wall to confirm the 0-0 result.

Adam Whitemore said after the game “We didn't put away one of six or seven very good chances. It was as simple as that. We controlled the game against a very organised and improved City side, and created plenty of opportunities. Their keeper made a number of great saves and earned them a point. I thought our performance was much better than either game against them last year. That's the way the game goes.

We lost our way a little in the last 15 in our desperation to find a winner, but generally our play in the back 2/3rds was really good. Our passing still needs to improve, and we switched off once or twice in defence which could have cost us.
I couldn't fault any of the players. Josh's movement was superb. Marshall was really solid, and Gabriel Tams made a good return to the starting line up.

Results elsewhere meant a point was no disaster, and shows how even the league is.

A win next week against a side we have a great record against gets us right back up to the top.”

One of those days for Rangers who just couldn’t find the back of the net this week, despite playing reasonably well, certainly better than the week prior.

The result softened after the news that Devonport had lost 4-1 to Somerset in a significant upset, but Prospect Knights, whom Rangers will face next week at the NTCA, had easily accounted for Burnie 3-0 at Montello.

This sets up a massive clash with Rangers’ cross town rivals next week which is also the Northern Rangers family day.  This will include jumping castle, face painting and much more for the kids and all are encouraged to come down to the NTCA for the first official home game for the season.

 The Reserves had a 1-1 draw with City after City opened the scoring from a set play, a free kick was sent across the box to the waiting strikers who all got free of their defenders and eventually Ben Quor stuck the ball past the keeper.

The Reserves eventually got back on even terms thanks to a fantastic overlapping run from Tom Burk who then struck past the keeper with a sensational left foot drive.

“The reserves were totally dominant, but conceded a poor goal. In the end a lack of cohesion in the final 3rd undid 75% possession. Good to see we kept our composure and showed good character to get back into it.
Joey was excellent, and Tenzing again stood out.” Adam Whitemore Said