Berwick Rangers 3-1 Whitehill
Wednesday 9th September 2009
They'll be breaking out the silver polish again at Shielfield after Rangers clinched an ultimately comfortable victory over Whitehill Welfare to clinch the City Cup before a sparse crowd at a blustery Shielfield last night.
This is a game that Rangers would have lost in recent seasons,so it says much for the quantum leap in competitive spirit at Shielfield at Jimmy Crease's exciting young side killed off a bolshy-looking Whitehill outfit with a dominant second half performance. Despite falling behind to a classy Damon Gray strike in the 3rd minute, Whitehill looked the hungrier side in the first half and induced several moments of indecision in the Gers defence, with keeper Mark Peat and his defenders looking like they'd just been introduced before kick off on a number of occasions. Former Gers cult-fiigure Kevin Haynes made a welcome return but it's fair to say his dietary regime looks like it's lacked a bit of rigour since he left,such was his limited mobility,though there were
still some occasional sparks of class from the big man.
Robbie Horn,Jamie Ewart and Stuart Callaghan made starts for an experimental Rangers line up, as did strike partnership Gray and Radzynski, both of whom will have given their manager food for thought after dynamic perforamances which ran Whitehill ragged in a one-sided second half which should have seen the Gers doubling their tally.
The game was over as a contest after 7 minutes of the second period, first Greenhill slotting home after an excellent four-man move, followed by Callaghan's clever close range finish. Whitehill pulled one back late on with a cracking strike but only after a combination of good goalkeeping,lucky goalkeeping,the woodwork and downright bad luck denied Stevie Radzynski a hat-trick. Brest moment of the match came from Chris McMenamin's Messi-like flick and turn during a stunning six-man move which led to Damon Gray cracking one over from 18 yards.All good stuff and a nice set up for the Stranraer match.
Saturday's starting line up will be interesting - will the manager change a winning team by starting Ewart, Gray (who looked very sharp last night) or Radzynski? Worrying about how the manager will conjure up his starting line-up makes a refreshing change from past regimes, doesn't it? Get behind them - they deserve your support.
Peat 5; Notman 6; Ewart 6; Horn 6; Smith 8; McMenamin 6; Callaghan 7; Currie 7; Greenhill 6; Gray 8; Radzynski 7.
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