| Gadeside Rangers Reserves made it 9 wins in a row with a lacklustre performance against division 4 whipping boys Herts Harriers. They remain 3 points ahead of second placed Victoria and six clear of the rest. |
| Rangers started brightly with Jay Evans dictating play from the middle of the park. The breakthrough came from the first corner of the game where Fitzpatricks whipped corner was glanced goalwards by Rojo, the keeper parried the ball straight onto the head of the onrushing Matt Day whos diving header flew into the roof of the net. Rangers controlled the ball and doubled their lead shortly after when Will Byrne cut in from the left and neatly finished past the onrushing keeper. A change of formation followed with Evans switching left and Rojo right. A penalty was earned as Jay Evans was felled just as he was about to pull the trigger, the usual deadly Kayembe then missed the opportunity to grab his 15th of the season but hitting his penalty well wide of the bottom left post. |
| From there things got worse as Rangers seemed to stop playing completely and on the half hour, Harriers broke via a long ball for the striker to round the keeper and finish past the despairing lunge of the back tracking Day. Panic then set in and Gadeside looked a shell of the side that had romped to a 12-0 victory only 5 weeks earlier and began to hoof the ball and lose all composure. In the end the half time whistle was welcomed as Harriers had the upper hand. |
| The second half started exactly how Gadeside would have wanted as within 5 minutes of the restart Byrne had bundled his way into the box and smashed in his 10th of the season. Again, the football wasn’t ideal and the team looked lacklustre and void of ideas in the final third. However, Will Byrne completed his hat-trick and sealed the victory with another run and finish. Very little positives can be taken from this game, and an improved performance will be needed next week against Green Dragon if Rangers are to keep their place at the top of the division 4 ladder. |
| Darren Hufford, Paul Bangs, Gavin Parsons, Matt Day (Mike Ashby), Jay Evans, Mark Cassidy, Chris Fitzpatrick, Kevin Putman, Michael Kayembe (Toby Zhou), Will Byrne (Stu Cartner), Meren Rojo |