A hard-fought tie set the tone for what should be a competitive season for the Mitchell Rangers in the Football Victoria Men’s State League Five North competition.
Hosting Alphington FC for the first round of the season, the Rangers fought all game to secure a four-all tie by the final whistle.
Coach Stuart Clothier said the result and the full-game effort were encouraging.
“With the boys leading at half time it was close, but we were the better side,” he said.
“It stayed hotly contested the entire 90 minutes with some excellent chances created from the lads with a lot of positives to be taken from the game.”
Two strong penalties were put away by new star forward Gurkarnvir Singh, while a fantastic finish from young gun Zac Kennedy to cut in and put the ball past the keeper rounded out a strong first half.
Calm defending from the back line helped push the ball up the field, delivered gracefully from the likes of centreback Corey Tinney.
An incredible finish from Luke Sommerville in the 86th minute put the game level for the final time, and all points were shared after an intense affair.
Reserves
The Rangers’ reserves had a better time of it on Saturday, securing a two-nil victory over Alphington FC.
Linking strong hold-up play from Stuart Clothier and youngster Kash Laws, alongside some impressive passing in behind from midfielders Talhah Shah and captain Brodie McSweeney to the young forward line, the Rangers were on the front foot most of the game.
Coach Jason Gatt said the side would look to carry the first-round momentum into the next few games.
“You wouldn’t have thought the scores would be nil-nil at halftime, with that many chances, our lads had by far the abundance of opportunities,” he said.
“I am very proud of the way the boys played, they have all been very disciplined at training, they work very hard for each other, and it is clearly paying off.”
Both the Rangers’ goals came in the second half, with a cut inside and shot from near the box to score from Kash Laws and a last-minute penalty put into the bottom left corner from new addition Will Chilvers.
The Rangers’ back line, however, stole the show on the weekend – holding off Alphington’s attacks for the entire game while keeper Josh Lee worked hard to keep a clean sheet.
The Rangers will travel to play La Trobe University for round two on April 6.
