Rangers finally got to play their first competitive fixture of 2026 as they took on much fancied Haringey Borough.

Before the game Rangers sat just three points above their hosts in the congested top end of the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division. That remained the situation at the end of play as both sides put in a decent shift for the 290 strong crowd. (and kudos to the home fans for having some great, original takes on songs by the likes of The Jam, Sham 69 and T.R.B!)

Risborough started strongly, a fourth minute free kick by Rodeny Dos Santos pounced on by Eliott Buchanan, his effort well held by Ashlee Jones. Ten minutes later the lively Rio Connell set up Andre Chiriac but his effort went just wide. The home side are a decent footballing outfit, however, and they went ahead with almost their first attempt on goal. On 26 minutes a shot from Stefanos Georgiou was deflected by a last-ditch Rangers block. The resulting corner missed the heads of the Haringey attackers but hit the unfortunate Lewis Albert, wrong footing Ben Bridle-Card to put the hosts one up.

Rangers kept to their game plan and saw decent efforts from Eliott, Rio and Andre all well saved by Jones who was by the far the busiest of the two keepers. Half-time, one nil to the hosts but it could well have been 3-1 to the visitors.

The home side came out fired up for the second period. The busy Bilal Sayoud forced a good save out of Ben Bridle-Card on 47 minutes whilst five minutes later a bout of ‘ping-pong’ in the Rangers area ended with another save from the Risborough keeper.

Having weathered the initial storm, Rangers finally got a deserved equaliser on 61 minutes when a mazy run by Rio was ended by a clumsy challenge and ref Ben Twitchings pointed to the spot. Up stepped Captain Eliott to slot past Jones with ease.

Both sides then went in search of a winner, most notably for Rangers on 73 minutes when a Rio shot was well saved by Jones. The visitor’s cause wasn’t helped on 78 minutes by a second yellow for Dos Santos leaving Rangers with ten men but they battled gamely to deservedly get a share of the points.

Next week, Saturday 24th, Rangers finally return to the Kamtech Stadium when they host high flying Cockfosters. Should be a top game and all support would be much appreciated as the lads aim to keep their seven-game unbeaten run intact, their last defeat coming in the away fixture at their visitors.