HISTORY MAKERS

Rangers wrote a new chapter in their history with a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win at step 5 Wembley in this F.A Vase 2nd Qualifying Round game at Vale Farm. Risboro’ started slowly against the Lions but once they found their rhythm there was only going to be one winner. Wembley had a couple of half chances in the opening exchanges but Rangers started to click, Kyle Faulkner had the reds first real chance but after setting himself up fired a chance just over, Risboro’ didn’t have long to wait to open the scoring when in the 10th minute Ben Hammond whipped a cross in from the Rangers left side between the Lions keeper and defenders and was met by Brian Haule who stroked the ball home to notch his 11th goal of the campaign but more importantly put Rangers a goal up. One nil soon became two nil when in similar fashion to their first this time Faulkner was the provider and with the goal gaping Sam Pekun was on hand to head Rangers into a 2-0 lead, cue Sam’s usual celebrations. The Lions were stunned. In the 32nd minute a Laurence Clark through ball to put Pekun in again and with Wembley gloves man Karl Beaumont rushing out, Pekun calmly placed the ball past him and into the bottom left hand corner of the net to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. It was now Rangers who were roaring and not their hosts.
The second half was largely a stop-start affair with the referee Robert Trinder taking centre stage which left most mystified by some of his decisions. Sam Pekun was poleaxed shortly after the restart, but the referee deemed it to be a fair challenge. Wembley reduced the arrears in the 55th minute when they won a penalty when in a crowded area, the ball hit Jason Castello in the stomach but was adjudged he handled the ball. Castello was then promptly given a yellow card for the offence. Yassine Femi-Gil stepped up and calmly placed the ball into the bottom with Jack Brooker diving the other side. This buoyed the step 5 outfit as they looked to claw back the two-goal deficit with the Lions seemingly winning all the decisions and the yellow cards flowing from the man in the middle. After another crunching tackle, this time on Joel Read which left the Rangers captain flat out, the Risborough players were outraged and as players from both sides squared up, Alex Sethi was pushed to the ground by an opposing player. Once calm was restored the ref showed both yellows cards to the Lions player and to Sethi. With just under ten minutes to go Kyle Faulkner was sin-binned for dissent, when after a challenge from a Wembley player which meant Rangers were to see out the remaining time with only 10 men. To be fair to Rangers they doggedly stuck to their task of keeping Wembley out and apart from a couple of ‘near misses’ the Risborough lead stayed intact. There was great celebration when Mr Trinder blew the final whistle as Rangers for the first time in their history had booked a place in the Competition Proper of the F.A Vase. Sadly, for us Alex Sethi was shown a second yellow card then the red as they left the field and he will now miss next Saturday’s encounter with his former side Penn & Tylers Green. This did not dampen the spirits of is Rangers team who continue their unbeaten run but are more so they are creating their own memories by becoming a very special group of players the club have seen.