Northern Rangers travelled to Montello for the least favourite trip in the Ranger calendar, rarely a game played between these two that doesn’t end in controversy and send offs, you can go back through the records as far as you like, and this fixture would be no different.

The traditional rain and wind was on offer at the top of Montello hill, but the ground was in good condition.

Rangers welcomed back Chris Hunt to the starting line-up, while Gabriel Tams was out through injury, and the club continues to wait on the fitness of Stefan Jago and Mark Ambrose.

The first half was an uninspiring affair, with the Rangers looking lethargic and disinterested in the contest at times.  Despite this, Rangers created some great scoring opportunities.  Andrew Nicholson made a great fist of his time at right back for Tams, making some magical runs up the wing and overlapping well, at one point his work covered the full expanse of the right side of the field, cutting into the box, shaking off his defenders but his cross to the waiting and vacant Chris Hunt at the back post lacked the power needed and it was dealt with by the Burnie Keeper.

Burnie’s Back line led by Kaimon Johnston, with Pete van Ek, Ash Smith and Elliot Stewart were dealing with the pressure with the wind in their face, but looked vulnerable to the pace of Rangers Strikers particularly Chris Hunt who was working the left side with the ball on a string.

Ball movement was generally slow and intensity poor, skill errors were also placing Rangers under defensive pressure, but a positive was Pooley in goals, the Ranger number 1 in fine form.

It looked to be a scoreless first half until Derek Schipper waved a little “Master” magic, shimming around Ash Smith in the Burnie back line and then slotting the ball home in between the keeper and the near post for the Ranger lead.

Half time brought a torrent from Adam Whitemore in the rooms, not something the boys would be used to, but it had the desired affect with Rangers coming out in the second half with a much higher standard, and looking more dangerous in front of goal.

Hingston got into the game in mid field, and distributed the ball well to Beard and Lanau-Atkinson while Declan Cuschieri had a far better second half with some perfectly timed challenges.

The Battle between Sam Luck and Paul Bremner was entertaining in its own right, Luck coming out on top this week, but Bremner always looked dangerous with the ball at his feet, however he lacked support and seemed to have to work everything in the forward line on his own.

As the referee’s watch ticked on, the game got heated, Burnie had a 7 minute barrage where they were shown 4 yellow cards and a Red, reduced to 10 men on the hour mark, but it seemed to have little affect.

The ledger was squared though when Issa Dumbuya was dismissed for his second yellow card, his first in the first half for continually diving, his second perhaps hard done by, being booked for a high foot. Not sure when the last person was shown a second yellow for such an offence.

Then Kaimon Johnson’s poor and late challenge on Derek Schipper saw Schipper stretchered from the ground and just a yellow shown.  Before you could draw breath, Rangers were reduced to 9 men when Adam Beard had his ankles targeted twice in a small section of play, finally the whistle blew to provide some belated protection, but Beard let out an audible expletive in frustration and was sent straight to the showers also.

So Rangers were now 9 men V 10, kicking into a stiff breeze and the sun was out and low in the sky.  But the remaining lads dug in and hung on to record a memorable yet forgettable 1-0 win over the Emus.

Whitemore was livid after the game with the spirit in which it was played, but what can you do?  Old habits die hard, and it’s evident there is no love loss between these two clubs.

A win is a win, though this one has come at a considerable cost with 2 players on the sidelines this week through suspension and Derek Schipper in doubt.

Plenty of players looking to come back in though, with Gabriel Tams set to return against Riverside, while Stefan Jago should be right to go again next week also, a player that has been missed by the senior side more so than expected.

Adam Whitemore said after the game, "Where do you start? We've spoken about removing any margin for error, being ruthless and putting sides away when we get the chance, but again we didn't. We should have been 2-0 up in 10 minutes and a potentially very difficult game would have been over. Preparation is critical to performance - one or two players clearly had not prepared themselves properly for such a crucial game and put in really poor performances. 

We again had plenty of possession but it was again a little too slow, and not penetrating enough. Most of the threat Burnie posed came from us giving away the ball cheaply or being defensively lazy. Not having a settled side showed too, our forwards worked hard but weren't able to link together as well as we have.

Nicko (Andrew Nicholson) was superb at right back, and (Marshall Pooley) very steady but if we are to retain the title we need to be much better. We have high standards and that wasn't good enough.

I actually thought we were very disciplined.The send offs were correct by the letter of the law. A little harsh, particularly given some of the tackles that preceded them, but technically correct."