Rangers 1, St Martin’s 2
ST MARTIN’S were glad to get this one out of the way. Not too many clubs will win against a much improved Rangers outfit at St Andrew’s this season and after trailing by an early Dave MacNab goal Colin Fallaize, the Saints boss, could ultimately enjoy his post-match kickabout with his young son.
‘It’s always a battle up here and you hope your side is going to come here to battle. We did that,’ he said.
‘And if there was any football, we played it. It was a satisfying result.’
The beaten coach was not about to disagree and was magnanimous in defeat.
‘They deserved it and played much the better football. They were nice and compact.
‘We gave them a match for 90 minutes but we weren’t at our best and I think that was more down to them.’
St Martin’s look every bit championship contenders.
They possess what all good teams have, a strong spine and, in Kevin Graham back at the heart of their defence, the outstanding skipper in island football.
A John Loveridge up front and they would be some force.
But scoring goals is not their forte and while Saturday’s strike pairing of Dom Heaume and Jason Winch are both fine players in their own right, neither seems best suited to the role he finds himself in.
It was often a frantic affair, with the ball in the air far too much to be really enjoyable.
But there was no quarter given and the first half-hour was particularly entertaining.
Chris Mauger nearly produced the quickest goal of the season - 15sec. - but his shot on the run flew over the bar.
In Rangers’ first serious attack Jon Veron went sprawling under pressure from Graham and, after turning away penalty claims, referee Geoff Greening endured his first mass protest of the day.
There was much of that. Far too much.
But whistle-happy Greening did not help his cause by making some bizarre decisions, none stranger than allowing an attacking throw-in to be taken, the play to break down and then, having recognised his assistant had been flagging for ages, heard what he had to say and then take the play back to close to where the throw had been taken and award a corner instead.
But matches should be about goals and not refs’ gaffes and the three of them all came before half-time.
Rangers went ahead on 13 minutes, Nathan Pattimore failing to hold on to Veron’s 25-yard free kick and MacNab following in swiftly to pounce on the loose ball.
Within four minutes it was 1-1.
The impish Winch caused havoc in the home area and a dangerous square pass towards the far post was unintentionally lashed into his own net by fullback Sam Bird.
The winner came on 44min.
Ben Coulter and Heaume helped the ball forward quickly down the middle and Charles Pinsard timed perfectly his run beyond the defence and produced a sublime first-time finish over the stranded Chris Parrott.
The game’s other clear chances largely fell the visitors’ way, although Ryan Gontier did well with one first-half effort that whizzed only just wide.
Mauger smashed a 25-yarder onto Parrott’s crossbar and over, Winch curled a 25-yard free kick just too high and Parrott shot wide.
All that before the interval.
In the second half Graham, up for a corner, flashed a firm header just over, Pinsard bundled the ball over the line only to be pulled up for a foul on the keeper and Winch’s stooping header on the run required Parrott to be alert.
Then, deep into stoppage time, Winch crashed a 25-yard drive goalwards and Parrott flew like a starling to get his fingertips to the ball and divert it over. Great save.
Gallienne used all three substitutions available to him and said afterwards he was pleased with their contributions.
They included the return, after injury, of Andy Chamberlain and he should have done better when found free in a scoring position.
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