Northern Rangers Vs Somerset Report - By request.

Five Individual Goal Scorers in Ranger Win. 

Northern Rangers 5 (A.Beard, S.Murray, P.Lanau-Atkinson, M.Pooley (pen) D.Schipper) def Somerset Sharks 0

Derek Schipper attacks down the right wing.

Northern Rangers registered five individual goal scorers in this weeks win over Somerset, including a goal from goal keeper Marshall Pooley from the penalty spot.

Northern Rangers were effectively missing their entire forward line with Chris Hunt, Stefan Jago and Mark Ambrose all on the injured list, but replacements in Adam Beard and Scott Murray were more than ready to step up after strong performances in the reserves.

Somerset had their own selection problems with Toby Sken, Keegan Wells and Chris Smith all unable to make the trip south.  Coach John Wheeler happy to give more youngsters a run on the NTCA.

The NTCA was in the best condition it has been in for some time, and all credit to the ground staff for providing such a fine surface, particularly when matches between these two sides have been played in a bog.

Somerset put Rangers under some early pressure with some aggressive midfield play giving way to the forwards who were attacking Rangers down the flanks.

The break-through came for Rangers though and Adam Beard found himself through on goal and dispatched the chance with perfection to put Rangers in front.

Scott Murray chipped in shortly after Derek Schipper set him up to double Rangers lead.

8 minutes later and Rangers were building a formidable lead, this time Patty Lanu-Atkinson cutting in from the left and slotting his chance past the keeper and defender under intense pressure to make it three goals in 20 minutes.

Lanau-Atkinson was brought down in the area shortly after and things were going from bad to worse for the coastal visitors, and with the score line already showing a 4-0 lead to Rangers, Marshall Pooley darted up the middle of the park, completing his fasted ever single down the NTCA wicket block to claim the spot kick at the other end.  Pooley slammed the shot home with no fuss and wondered back to his mark for the remainder of the half.

Issa Dumbuya enjoying some rare time on his feet!

Rangers had capitalised on their opportunities, but had in no way dominated the half, against a half strength Somerset.

The score-line would suggest that Adam Whitemore and Tony Ludby would be happy and impressed with the performance to half time, but nothing could be further from the truth, Whitmore demanded a higher intensity from the senior group and despite the score line, was far from happy with the sides performances, and individuals were put on notice.

The second half was different, more controlled, a higher tempo and quicker ball movement.

Derek Schipper scored early with a delightful, outside of the boot chip over Mitch Deal’s head in goals and into the net to make it 5-0.

Whitemore used the goal to ring the changes and introduced Josh vanZetten and Ayden Demiejer to the game50 minutes in, and shortly after Tenzing Anderson made his senior debut from the bench.

No further goals were found, but Adam Whitemore and Tony Ludby were happier with the second half than the first.

Whitemore said after the game "The second half performance was what I expect from us. We lifted the intensity, pressured the ball and dominated possession. Even though 4 of the goals came in the first half I thought our intensity was poor, and we were generally lazy. We played the same way against Burnie in round 2 and it cost us, and with respect to an undermanned Somerset, had we played a better side yesterday it would have cost us again. To achieve the goals we have set ourselves we need to reach better levels of performance every week.

On the positive side, as I said, the second half was much better. We controlled the tempo really well, and even though we only scored 1 we created many chances, even with the Sharks sitting back in numbers. By controlling the tempo it allowed us to get all 3 midfielders into the box at different times, which is something we hadn't done in the last 2 weeks. While the first half wasn't great we actually penetrated really well in the final third and scored some very good goals. Des showed how devastating he is when he gets on the ball in the final third.

It also highlighted that we have extremely good depth, given there was no Jago, Ambrose or Hunt. Adam Beard and Scott Murray had excellent starting debuts, and have made a really good case for selection.  Tenzing Anderson also made a  really good impression in his debut off the bench."