Evo-Stik Northern Premier League
Tuesday 7 November 2017
A dramatic start and an even more dramatic finish as Rangers beat bottom club Sutton Coldfield at Coles Lane.
Manager Neil Kitching made three changes to the side that drew at Whitby three days earlier with Izak Reid, Dan Westwood and Richard Batchelor coming in for Sam Griffiths and Louis Briscoe who dropped to the bench while loan signing Massiah McDonald was suspended.
Rangers got off to the ideal start as Dan Westwood celebrated his return to the starting line up with a goal after just 13 seconds.
Rangers kicked off and the ball quickly found its way to left back Kieren Westwood. His long ball up field was won by Izak Reid who headed into the path of Westwood who, spotting keeper Nicky Draper off his line, sent in a dipping volley from just outside the area.
Rangers could and should have been out of sight by the 15 minute mark as Dan Westwood had one cleared off the line, Richard Batchelor sent a header against the post then had another cleared off the line by former Rangers defender Tyler Lyttle.
Jack Sherratt fired wide from just outside the area but the home side stunned Rangers with an equaliser on 17 mins.
It was a soft goal from Rangers’ point of view as Gurjit Singh’s ball through a static defence picked out Lee Knight who clipped in a cross for Danny O’Callaghan to head home via the underside of the bar.
With their tails up, Sutton pressed for more and Singh was just wide with a 30 yarder while the former Hednesford man went close again with free kick.
It needed a timely clearance from Batchelor to deny James Beresford then, seconds later, Lyttle sent a fierce drive just over the Rangers bar.
But it was far from being all Sutton as Boro captain Mat Bailey fired a shot straight at Draper.
And it was Rangers who got back in front three minutes into the second half when Kieran Morris rose high to head home from Izak Reid’s free kick.
A great diagonal ball from Alex Fletcher almost produced a spectacular goal from Kieren Westwood whose volley was saved by Draper while Reid’s volley 10 minutes later went just the wrong side of the post.
But the one goal advantage was always going to be a fragile one for Stafford to hold on to in the closing stages and Sutton threatened with two efforts from sub Mickael Partodikromo.
Then, in the third and final minute of added time, Jack Sherratt needlessly conceded a free kick ten yards outside of the Boro area. Singh stepped up and sent his kick low to Caswell’s right. The young Boro keeper made the ground but fumbled the ball and it squirmed over the line to bring the scores level.
But Rangers were not yet finished and, straight from the restart, they went down to the other end to snatch a dramatic winner through Kieren Westwood who created himself a yard of space before curling the ball home from the edge of the area.
Sutton Coldfield: 1 Nicky Draper, 2 Tyler Lyttle, 3 Nathan Kelly, 4 Reece Webb (14 Brian Smikle 46m), 5 James Beresford, 6 James Haran, 7 Matthew Walters (15 Mickael Partodikromo 65m), 8 Alexander Perry, 9 Lee Knight, 10 Danny O’Callaghan, 11 Gurjit Singh. Unused subs: 12 Lewis Probert, 16 Bozhidar Alexandrov, 17 Harri Lovett
Rangers: 1 Brad Caswell, 2 Alex Fletcher, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Kieran Morris, 5 Mat Bailey, 6 Jordaan Brown, 7 Izak Reid, 8 Jack Sherratt, 9 Richard Gregory (12 Louis Briscoe 90+1m), 10 Dan Westwood (14 Sam Griffiths 81m), 11 Richard Batchelor. Unused subs 15 Joe Thomas, 16 Kai Davis, 17 Josh Craddock
Cautions: Beresford (SCT)
Referee: Scott Postin
Att: 211
Chris Elsley
