Kirk Deighton Rangers v Wetherby Athletic Match Preview

The first of the derbies occur tonight as we host Wetherby Athletic at Barr Field, and we would love to see plenty of support for the lads.

The game has a 6:30 pm kick-off time and, as we have come to expect, the weather will be another mixed bag with light rain showers, and cloudy dry spells expected!

The Opposition.

Wetherby had a good start to the season, winning their first two games (3 -2 v Salts and 8-0 v Pool) to climb to the summit of the table, but their last match saw them fall 4-2 against Campion to start tonight’s contest in 8th position.

James Flynn is their leading scorer so far with 4 goals, but Brain Blewitt and Josh Wilson have also got a couple to their name already.

Pos Team P W D L GF GA Pts

7 Rangers 4 2 1 1 10 9 7

8 Wetherby 3 2 0 1 13 6 6

Form coming into this match (last five games)

Rangers W W D L

Wetherby L W W

A win for us could see us move into second place, whilst a defeat could drop us down as far as 11th place.

Head To Head.

Despite the clubs being so close in proximity, the meetings between the two first teams have been surprisingly low. Last season’s encounters were the first for quite a few years, and a look at the database reveals that there have been at least 13 meetings between Rangers and Athletic (First Team, Reserves and A team) which breaks down to 3 wins for us and 6 to Wetherby.

The last time that the two teams played at Barr Field was on the 9th January 2019, and goals from Charlie Yates and Joe Wilks saw us win 2-1.

Team News For Rangers.

Leeds Fest has given Dan Marshall’s side a few extra days to recover and with several players on the injury list, this enforced rest could provide the management with a few extra players back for this match. There are several doubts however with Charlie Yates missing the Aberford Albion match, Brad Spencer and Jack Abbott having damaged their knees and obviously Joe Straker with his long-term injury.

There are no suspension worries for Rangers, so at least that area is no concern for Marshall.

What About Wetherby Athletic?

Of course, one of the aspects of having another team so close is that both teams know each other well and as we’ve found, this can make for some very competitive games. Wetherby have been able to put out some consistent teams and this will certainly be a strength for the, coming into this game.

The FA Suspension list shows that both Brain Blewitt and Darren Harrison are serving suspensions, but as they both started late last year and early this year, it’s not entirely clear if these have been left on the system by mistake as Blewitt has played in all three of Wetherby’s fixtures so far.

The Lady In The Middle.

Tonight’s referee is Ms Charlotte Phillips. This is the first game that Ms Phillips has taken charge of this season and we hope that she has a pleasant and hassle-free time whilst she is at Barr Field.

Following The Match.

Unfortunately, due to personal commitments, there will not be our usual level of Social Media presence at the game.

The gates will be open at around 5.30 pm and all fans from both teams are guaranteed a warm welcome. Our clubhouse will be pulling pints and serving a wide range of beverages (both alcoholic and soft) so everyone can enjoy a drink, Pre, at half-time and after the referee has brought things to a close!

We will also have a matchday special drinks offer on, so please see the noticeboard near the bar for more details.

Also, if you have any spare pennies and would like to donate them to a great cause, we will also have our prostate Cancer UK collection boxes around the clubhouse. You can also buy one of their great Men United Pin Badges for a pound (or two!) from these boxes as well.

We will be presenting our Kirk Deighton Rangers B&F Electrical Distributors Man Of The Match Award after the game, so please stay and give the winning player your support.

This match is kindly sponsored by Practically Perfect.