St Andrew’s referee Geoff Greening gets his point across to Bels captain Sam Cochrane. (Picture by Rob Batiste, 0705139)

Rangers 1, Bels 6
BELS hit the top of the table and Dave Rihoy was at his irrepressible best with a personal four-goal destruction of Rangers at St Andrew’s.

Saturday’s game was a dress-rehearsal for their FA Cup semi-final in early March but, with Rangers continuing to defend like misplaced statues, it seems impossible that Bels won’t be in the final on 8 April.

Rangers conceded just 15 goals in 18 league games in their 1979 Priaulx championship season, but this latest six added to their ‘against’ column means they have now shipped 40 in the league alone this campaign at an average of more than three per game.

Had the remarkably relaxed Micky Ogier not taken pity on the home side and withdrawn Rihoy and Scott Bradford with almost a quarter of the match remaining, who knows how many the visitors would have finished with.

As it was, Rangers were indebted to keeper Adam Gontier, who made some fine stops and can in no way be blamed for this latest defensive embarrassment.

It took Bels just six minutes to get their noses in front.