MORETON RANGERS v NEWENT TOWN: MATCH PREVIEW...

Moreton Rangers v Newent Town:

Hellenic League Division 2 West, Monday 2nd April…

This promotion clash between Rangers and Town should provide a fine spectacle, especially as Moreton stole a 1-2 victory at Newent in February.

MY ONLY VISIT TO MORETON RANGERS, IN 2015-16...

Newent lie top of the league table at present with 11 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses from their 15 games. Their goal difference is +29 and the team has collected 35 points. 

Moreton lie 2nd in the table, 3 points behind Newent and although Rangers have only lost one match in the league, critically they have drawn 5, whilst winning 9 of their 14 encounters so far. They have a goal difference of +34 and their points total is 32. Hence a win for Rangers on Monday will take them to the top of the division on goal-difference.

Carterton lie 3rd in the division, also with 32 points from 16 games, having won 10, drawn 2 and lost 4, with a goal-difference of +26. Bourton Rovers lie 4th with 28 points from 15 games. 

Newent’s last four matches (all at home) were a 6-1 win v Shrivenham Reserves, the 1-2 loss to Moreton, a 4-2 victory over Faringdon Town and a 1-2 defeat in a cup competition to Clanfield 85. 

Town’s overall leading scorers are JOHN THOMAS with 17 and PATRICK GIBBS with 14.

Moreton’s last four games show some inconsistency. A 2-2 draw at Shrivenham Reserves was followed by two cup defeats: 4-0 at Cam Bulldogs and a 0-1 loss at home to Easington Sports. On March 24th they were handed a ‘walk-over’ win because Cheltenham Saracens Reserves couldn’t raise a team but then on Wednesday last, that game was actually played, resulting in a 0-6 victory for Moreton…

2015-16 & WORK WAS PROGRESSING...

The overall leading scorer for Rangers is LEE BROOKS with 23… 

Dave Lawrence of Moreton Rangers has kindly previewed the clash for this blog:

A THOUGHTFUL DAVE LAWRENCE from his Twitter page...

“There’s no getting away from it, this game means a lot. It isn’t just a case of hard work this year, it’s the previous years in the Hellenic League and before that in the Gloucestershire Leagues. We have proved to ourselves and others in recent seasons that we can mix it with the ‘big boys’, to use a cliche. The hardest part will be getting out of this league so we can prove it week in and week out. We know we don’t have any right to be higher in the pyramid but we do believe on and off the pitch that we do work hard enough to be there…

We beat Newent on the road a few weeks back and it was at a time when games were coming thick and fast. We had prepared the lads for that month of fixtures and told them how tough it would be. We started off the game pretty well, controlling the pace of the game. We were undone by a set-piece though and found ourselves one-nil down. A ten minute period of nerves kicked in but then we got back on the ball and we always looked dangerous going forward. We scored twice in about 5 minutes in the 2nd half and other than the last few minutes when Newent threw men forward desperately, I’d say we thoroughly deserved the win…

NEWENT TOWN: READY FOR MORETON...

We have drawn five league game so far this season and frustrating has to be the word to go alongside the draw column. It’s a culmination of little things: injuries, suspensions, postponements and I think our reputation has a lot to do with it. A lot of teams see coming up against Moreton as their Cup Final. They raise their games massively. Shrivenham have undone us twice this year and in the first game at our place which we won, they were unbelievable. You have never seen so much fight and organisation from a team which are so lowly in the league. A lot of credit must go to them. In the reverse fixture the other week we were guilty of being sloppy. They had two shots and scored both times and we missed chance after chance…

RANGERS CELEBRATING...

Carterton are up in the top three on merit. It is a very well run club with unbelievable facilities. The run-in should be interesting. We still have them to play at London Road and we know we will have to be at our best to get the three points. They are definitely one of the teams who could cause problems for anyone on their day…

Lee Brooks’ goalscoring record for Rangers speaks for itself. And it isn’t just this year. He scores 25+ goals each year. Any team would be lucky to have that in their armoury. I’m sure though that if Lee was writing this himself he would place a lot of credit on the team. We create goals from everywhere on the park. Of course Lee puts himself in the right position at the right time which is a knack you can’t train for. You either have it or you don’t. He’s lively, he is fit, he can score from running in behind or picking up the ball and running at a defender. He is good in the air and has an unbelievable knack for finishing when he has no time to think! All in all he is a very good centre-forward who keeps finding the back of the net but also works hard off the ball. (Something I’m sure I wouldn’t have written a few years ago!)

Due to the level of football we are at, the only way of knowing about games is the result (very little coverage from press or social media) so I can’t really say anything about our form other than the results don’t lie. The County Cup Semi-Final was a strange one: the game was called off early on and then put back on again two hours later which was not an ideal preparation. Then unfortunately for us the referee had a shocker. We were beaten 4-0 but had the ‘keeper sent off in 37th minute. The Shrivenham affair was just one of those freak football results. As I said earlier, two chances, two goals and we had endless opportunities to finish the game and didn’t. Easington in the Cup the other week was the tough one. We were beaten 1-0 but we feel we should have won that game really but the performance was excellent.

ON MY PREVIOUS VISIT, RANGERS DREW 4-4 WITH OLD WOODSTOCK TOWN RESERVES...

The weather this year has been ridiculous and has had an impact upon performances. At times it’s one week on, three weeks off. As I’m sure all teams will confess, playing games thick and fast is the way forward. It gives you greater impetus. Silly suspensions from senior players this year have not helped either. Hopefully they are out of the way and we can keep some momentum going in the run in!

As for Monday’s match, I’m sure it will be close! Newent are potent going forward but we should have a full squad to choose from and I envisage us having a lot of the ball. We are on home turf and hopefully a few of the town turn out to see what should be a crucial match at the top of the league. I won’t make a prediction, as I’m far too superstitious for that but I’m sure you can imagine which way I want the result to fall…”

Thanks to Dave for that and let’s hope the match lives up to the hype…

FULL COVERAGE OF THE GAME WILL BE AT: 

themowdog.blogspot.co.uk

‘THE MOWDOG’…