Swallownest 0-2 Hall Road

Hall Road Rangers continued their rich vein of form on Saturday as they picked up a 0-2 win at Swallownest FC. The hosts had a half-chance inside the 1st minute which they put wide. Meanwhile, Sam Robinson fired a shot wide in the 12th minute.

Three minutes later, Rangers took the lead when Paul Wray’s cross into the Swallownest box resulted in a Sam Reed own goal. There was more threat from Hall Road in the 28th minute as Conner Harman sent a dangerous ball into the Swallownest box but no one was able to get on the end of it.

The rest of the first half consisted of Swallownest exerting pressure on the Hall Road defence. There was a big let off for Rangers in the 39th minute as a floated cross came back off the post. Just before the break, the hosts put a header just wide from a corner.

Swallownest provided an early scare in the second half when they put a header over the bar. However, Hall Road made themselves more comfortable when they doubled their lead in the 67th minute through Sam Robinson’s 8th league goal of the season as he fired the ball home.

The Rangers defence had to withstand a wave of Swallownest attacks in the latter stages of the game. Tom Macauley produced a terrific save in the 83rd minute to prevent the hosts from scoring and they then put the rebound wide.

Ultimately, Rangers held out to earn more valuable points and a second successive clean sheet.

Hall Road joint-manager Leon Sewell was pleased with his how his side dealt with the absence of a number of players heading into the game.

“First and foremost, Swallownest is never an easy place to come. We scraped the barrel a bit in terms of player availability. True testament to the lads as they dug in really really deep and we won every single battle in every department.

On another day, it could have been a couple more but we got through on the winning mentality. That’s something that’s really pleasing.

Buzzing for the lads that obviously got the goals and also buzzing for the back five again. Two clean sheets back to back and another three points on the board. We all walked in ready to kick off at 3 o’clock and we got the job done professionally” he said.

Report by: Oliver Harsley