Dome Rangers 0 - 3 Brighton Centre XI

The Dome Rangers played the Brighton Centre XI at Preston Park yesterday afternoon, keen to avenge their 3-1 defeat in March this year. With a slightly reshuffled starting eleven and a full quota of willing substitutes, Rangers started brightly with Mike Hovey and Williams - a late replacement for the sidelined Plucknett - combining well on the left to put Centre under pressure. It was Centre however who had the first attempt on goal after seven minutes, but Rangers responded immediately with a chance as Bollard went through on goal, only to be denied by a decisive tackle as he lined up his shot. Mike Hovey then had arguably Rangers' best chance of the half, blasting the ball just over the bar with the keeper beaten. Midway through the first half Centre stepped up a gear and really started to put the Rangers' defence under some concerted pressure, but they stood firm under the command of captain Marks, his lone voice incessantly barking out orders to his team-mates. With Stockman and Bollard replacing Rogers and Robinson up front Rangers seemed to have a greater purpose in front of goal and went back on the offensive, with some good support play from Acheampong. The match seemed headed for a goalless draw at half time until Cotton made a howler, tapping a harmless cross into his own net in the last minute of the half.

The late goal clearly dented Rangers' confidence and they went two goals behind immediately at the start of the second half after conceding a free kick on the edge of the area. The resultant shot bent around the wall and nestled comfortably in the left hand corner of the net. After a resilient first half defensive display which restricted Centre to mainly long shots on goal, the opposition were finally making inroads into Rangers' back four, and giving McAdam a torrid time with attack after attack down the left hand side. However, with Kirchin and McSorley now commanding the midfield, Rangers had their chances too, with Cotton crossing a ball to Stockman in the box which the goalie cleared, and then Acheampong and Stockman combining well to win a corner. In the 52nd minute Centre's keeper spilled a hopeful shot which fell nicely for Kirchen, who gladly ran onto the loose ball and stabbed it home - only for his goal to be controversially disallowed for offside by Centre's nominated linesman. The killer blow came in the 67th minute when Centre again broke into the box and shot past Lewis after a pass from the right. Rangers looked for a late consolation goal and came closest to scoring when Mike Hovey dinked a ball from the left to the far post which McSorley should have knocked into the back of the net. In the last fifteen minutes Rangers started to tire and Centre were only prevented from extending their lead further by some fine saves from Lewis. There was one final scoring opportunity for Rangers in the closing minutes as Stockman ran free into the penalty area, but Kirchen was unable to feed the ball to him. So it finished 3-0 to Centre at the final whistle which was another disappointing result for Rangers. Still, the team should take heart from their valiant performance, with the players keeping possession well and getting upfield a lot more than they did during the same fixture back in March. Maybe next time, eh lads?

Photo by Andy Parke

Dome Rangers Team:

• GKP Lewis
• DEF Williams (Jouandies H/T, Williams 51)
• DEF McSorley (McAdam 25, Bollard 80)
• DEF Cotton
• DEF Marks (Kirchen 35)
• MID Acheampong (Krawczyk 21, Marks H/T)
• MID A. Hovey (Jouanides 15, A. Hovey 29, McSorley H/T)
• MID Kirchen (Acheampong 31, M. Hovey 62)
• MID M. Hovey (Rogers H/T)
• STR Bollard (Robinson 10, Bollard 38, Krawczyk 65)
• STR Rogers (Stockman 29)

Corners: Dome 2 / Centre 1

Fouls: Dome 4 / Centre 1

Offside: Dome 1 / Centre 1

Shots on target: Dome 2 / Centre 12

Shots off target: Dome 1 / Centre 5

Bookings: Dome 0 / Centre 0

Referee: Mr J. Pearce

Linesman: Mr D. Plucknett

Man of the Match: M. Hovey