Hall Road Rangers 1-3 Rossington Main

A sloppy start cost Hall Road Rangers on Saturday as they lost 1-3 to Rossington Main at Haworth Park. Rossington took control of the game early on as Rangers struggled to keep the ball. The visitors took the lead in the 7th minute thanks to a goal from Jordan Buckham as he found space in the Hall Road box and got on the end of a cross.

There wasn’t a reaction from Hall Road to this setback as Rossington continued to dictate the play. They doubled their lead in the 11th minute as Zeph Thomas was sent through on goal and he produced a clinical finish to get his name on the scoresheet.

After this, Rangers began to show some glimpses of attacking play as they searched for a way to get themselves back into the game. Debutant Craig Muirhead put an effort wide in the 15th minute. Bailey Smith was denied a goal by a good save from the Rossington goalkeeper later in the half.

Hall Road showed plenty of fight and endeavour in the second half as they didn’t allow the visitors any time on the ball. Tom Bennett got Rangers back in the game in the 52nd minute as he coolly slotted the ball home.

Nine minutes later, the scoreline was almost level when Paul Wray’s goal-bound effort was tipped onto the crossbar by the Rossington keeper. Hall Road again came close to equalising in the 66th minute as James Piercy put a header just wide.

However, Rossington effectively killed the game off in the 84th minute when Jack Watson converted a penalty. Chris Spinks nearly made things interesting late on as his free-kick went just wide of the Rossington goal.

Hall Road joint boss Leon Sewell wasn’t pleased with how his side started the game.

“First and foremost, Rossington started very quick in the first 20 minutes. I think we were either still in bed or in the changing room which is really frustrating.

We were just not at the races in the first 20 minutes which was really disappointing.

We got the early goal in the second half which is what we asked of the players. I thought we moved the ball really well and our possession and player rotation and ball rotation was good.

We kept knocking on the Rossington door and fair play to their goalkeeper who made three great saves. Benno got us back in the game at 1-2 and Paul Wray hit a rocket that was going in the top corner and the keeper pawed it away.

We had one lapse in concentration and decided to play the wrong pass which caught us out of position and led to a penalty which left us with a 1-3 defeat.

We’ve got to certainly take the positives from 70 minutes of the game. I thought the new lads that came in all did well” Sewell said.

Report by: Oliver Harsley