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.

Nicholson almost had Rangers searching for an equaliser but he sent a tough shot wide of the mark after a classic Nicholson run into the box.

Rangers eventually falling to a strong Clarence side who deserved their win, but only just.

Adam Whitemore said after the game “We conceded 3 really poor goals and didn't take our chances. Unfortunately it sums up too many of our games.

They are a good side but there was nothing in the game, so it was really disappointing to lose. We created the best of the chances in the first half but conceded a sloppy goal. The second goal was the killer. We started the second half well and should have been level. Then out of nothing we give away a goal where there was no danger. From then on we were forced to chase the game, which opened us up and they started to create a bit. We've excelled over the last 2 seasons but schoolboy errors have been an ongoing issue. It's an individual thing, not a system problem. We had so many chances to score, and finished really strongly but again weren't clinical when it mattered.

Overall I thought they showed a bit more quality on the ball. We made far too many uncharacteristic skill errors which you generally get away with in our league, but allowed them to counter us. Again you could see the benefit of greater depth in the SPL. Every second game  in our league is low quality and a slow tempo, and it really isn't much preparation for big games. This was the only difference between the sides.”