A brisk winters day was provided for the Rangers 3^rd encounter of the season against Mangotsfield. We knew it would be a tough match but went out determined to give it our best shot.       

The Green Team looked confident and ready for their challenge with the much seen formation of Alex and Cameron up front, Tom and Connor on the wing and Jack, Katie and Woody holding the rear. The Rangers were very quick on the attack with Alex taking his first shot very early on. The Mangoes were however quick off the mark and we were unlucky to concede in the 2^nd minute. The Rangers regrouped quickly with some great crossing from Tom and Connor to give Cameron and Alex some chances against the opposition goal. Cameron showed great vigour and provided an excellent assist to Tom, who gave us the equaliser in the 5^th minute. With the Mangoes at level pegging we knew we had some rallying to do to keep them out. The pace of the game was very fast with some great clearances from the back between Woody, Katie and Jack. There was some frustration kicking in from the opposition though, with most of the possession being held by the Rangers. The attack was strong in the dying minutes of the first half and Alex put in a great goal in the 20^th minute to bring the first half to 2-1.

The half time talk was buoyant with a tight scoreline at 2-1 but needing to make more of the opportunities to find the back of the net. The start of the second half saw good pace with Alex trying hard to lose the strong Mangoes defence who were sticking close to him. We were unlucky to concede in the 21^st and 24^th minutes, which saw the opposition back in front. Woody made some more fantastic saves in the second half and Katie and Jack showed determination in clearing the ball from the back on a number of occasions. The Greens were unlucky to concede again in the 29^th and 39^th minutes and brought the full time score for the first game in at a 2-5 loss.

Man of the match was Cameron for great work across the entire pitch and providing some fantastic assists throughout the game.

The Blue Team also looked confident though knew that they needed to dig deep to rise to the challenge ahead of them. There were a few changes in the formation with Harry up front, Joe, Luke and Aaron in Midfield and Oli, Sam and Jacob holding the rear. The Rangers faced another fast game but Sam, Oli and Jacob started strong and held the rear very well. Joe came off after an early knock with Ben taking his place. Ben came on with passion providing a number of great manoeuvres up the wing to give a number of chances against the opposition net. We were unlucky not to put points on the board on a number of occasions but regrouped well to keep up the determination. Jacob made a number of outstanding saves throughout the first half. Sam and Oli worked well together and Sam made a number of excellent challenges and clearances.  The Mangoes put on a good display and one of their defenders had a great clearance from the rear, which led to a great goal for them in the 11^th minute. Some great counter attacking led to a second goal being conceded in the 18^th minute of the first half, bringing the score to 0-2.

The half time talk asked for better positioning and more shots to utilise the chances we were creating. The Blues dug deep and battled hard showing determination to try and bring the scoreline closer but couldn’t get enough pace to get the ball past the very alert Mango defence. Ben took a number of chances to feed the ball up the wing in the second half though unfortunately denied success. The Blues held second half well with some outstanding clearances from Sam and great saves from Jacob but it just wasn’t their day when it came to chances up front, bringing the final score to 0-2.

Man of the match for the Blue Team was Sam for such great battling against the large number of shots taken against our defence.

The overall score was a 2-7 loss against a good team with great sportsmanship shown all round. It wasn’t Warmley’s day but there was some great football played, despite the challenges of the cold air and heavy ground.