Rangers 7 v 0 Harlow Hill

KDRAFC Media
Aug 1, 2021
3 min read

A high scoring game saw us put seven past Harlow Hill, and in the process, right some wrongs that had occurred against Headingley AFC midweek.

A tweak of the tactics saw a new formation adopted, and 16-year old Kieran Arnett made his home goalkeeping debut in place of the injured Jonty Smith and unavailable Ben Sharp. It was also good to see Joe Straker appear on the subs bench for the second time following his horrific injury.

Harlow pushed Rangers back and shot from outside the area, but Arnett made a comfortable catch. Deighton responded, and Sam linked up well with Josh Barden, but a high foot from Jake Little as he tried to control the ball gave the visitor's chance to clear the danger.

Little was soon in the thick of the action again when he teed up Harvey Ribbons, but his stinging shot went just wide of the post.

The visitors applied pressure onto Deighton's defence, and an uncontrolled pass was picked up on and hit goalwards first time. Diving to his left, Arnett reached the shot and pushed it wide, saving the defender's blushes.

Rangers soon re-established their dominance when Little beat his marker on the left-wing and swung in a cross that evaded Sid Abbott at the back post. Minutes later, Little received a good pass from Barden just in front of goal, but he couldn't get it fully under control and the shot spun wide.

Following a long shot from Luke Dubery that the Harlow keeper collected, Rangers took the lead on twenty minutes when Little's deep cross was turned across the face of goal by Ribbons, and Abbott had the simple task of knocking the ball into the empty net.

With confidence evident, Rangers tried to increase their lead through a Dubery free-kick, but the wall blocked his shot. The ball was passed back into the centre to Barden, but his shot went just wide.

A slick break through the middle of the pitch gave the visitors some respite, but yet again, Arnett produced a good save low down to deny them a goal.

Rangers doubled their lead in the thirty-eighth minute when Mike McCartney collected a cross outside the area, strode forward and fired in a shot into the corner of the net past the unsighted keeper.

Half-Time: Kirk Deighton Rangers 2 v 0 Harlow Hill

Deighton surged forward from the restart and forced a corner which Harlow defended well. As the ball came back, some one-touch passing between Abbott and Barden allowed Barden to shoot, but it was blocked by a defender before Murphy fired wide.

The chances were starting to pile up for Deighton as Barden shot over from a free-kick, and Ribbons just failed to control the ball in a good position. A few minutes later, Murphy was cursing his luck when he shot straight at the keeper following a good break by Abbott.

Little was having a superb game, but despite showing some great skills, he couldn't find the target despite coming close.

McCartney thought he had scored again in the 67th minute, but a good save by the keeper pushed the ball onto the crossbar.

Harlow almost fashioned a one-on-one with Arnett, but Straker produced a superb intervention to snuff out the danger.

Rangers scored again in the sixty-ninth minute after Little's original shot was parried by the keeper. However, Ribbons had followed in at the post and knocked it home.

Six minutes later, it was 4-0 after Straker converted a penalty he had won following a foul. Originally the referee had tried to let Straker shoot, but as the midfielder fell, he pointed to the spot.

John-Paul Williams nearly made it five after he latched onto George Widdows pass, but as he tried to drill his shot low, the keeper saved well.

It was five in the seventy-eighth minute when some good one-touch football released Barden, and he placed his shot past the keeper.

Widdows scored in the eighty-fourth minute following a lovely back-heel from Barden fooled the Harlow defence and freed Widdows to move in on goal and stroke the ball past the keeper.

Two minutes later, Barden grabbed his second after Harlow only cleared Williams's cross to the edge of their area, and Barden whipped his shot straight into the corner of the net.

Full-Time: Kirk Deighton Rangers 7 v 0 Harlow Hill