Losing to (Ideal) Rangers was indeed not an option !!!

By Marco Martiniello

The team: Lees, Martiniello, Thomas, Nevin, Mulholland, Egerton, Bajraktari, Dixson, Peckham, Cain, Zahr
Sub: Hunter

After two disappointing results considering the quality of our performances, it was really time to reverse a possible negative trend and to add the points to the good football.

With some players missing (Turner, Ljung, Murray, Swartjes) and the return of Zahr, El Capitano (Hey you! Get off of your Paris cloud!) had to reshuffle the team to try and beat his beloved orange Rangers.

Despite a very inspiring team talk (as ever!) during which I learn words that I never find in an English dictionary (for example 'pish'), we started the game far too slowly. For about 10-15 minutes we were unable to reproduce the top quality football of last week. But progressively, things got tuned up and it was no surprise when Dixson concluded a brilliant collective action: 1-0

The referee supplied by Rangers was not helping. He did not have a clue and it was clear we could only count on ourselves to defeat the team that did not look that impressive even when we were not playing that well.

Edward has a quiet first half in goal despite 2 clear chances from Rangers that did not match the many opportunities we had. A well deserved 1-0 after a first period of domination.

The second half started in a different way. The Rangers looked tired and we looked more aggressive and determined. Gerry Cain added 2 goals. We then relaxed a little bit but it was clear that rangers could not come back in the game despite interesting efforts from Lees and Peckham trying to give them a goal away.

Finally, our Tirana star took advantage of the last mistake by the Rangers defence to seal a relatively easy 4-0 victory.

What a week for El Capitano!

Goals: Dixson, Cain (2), Bajraktari
MOM: Zahr
Backpass of the day: Peckham