Berwick Rangers 2-0 Montrose
Wednesday 30th September 2009
Berwick Rangers consolidated their lead at the top of the Third Divison on Saturday with what was ultimately a comfortable victory over a Montrose side that performed a lot more impressively than their bottom of the table position would suggest.
The win means that not only did Rangers set a new club record of consecutive home wins (previously set in 1969/70, around the time that Iggy Pop was gearing up The Stooges for an aural assault on the world's ears, if you like that kind of thing), but they built a 4 point lead over nearest rivals Forfar who visit Shielfield for another top of the table tussle on 3rd October. If the SFL come up with the goods and nail Livibank with a double figure points penalty for defaulting on their fixture with Shire, Rangers could find themselves making serious headway by the end of October. There is an elephant in the room however, and we're not talking about you know who here - it s the disproportionate number of home games Rangers are playing - 6 home matches against 2 aways by 4.45 pm on Saturday next. On current form however, there's no reason to let that become a problem, though we'll know a lot more about Rangers title credentials after they complete their next three fixtures.
Not surprisingly, Jimmy Crease went with the same starting line up that had performed so well against Stranraer. Anyone expecting an easy ride against a winless Montrose were soon disabused of that notion, a dozy looking Rangers spending most of the opening quarter on the back foot after the visitors started with real intent. Bizarrely, Rangers played in their away strip as did the visitors in all-white, which meant that if you narrowed your eyes and swallowed a couple of Buckies, it could have been AC Milan versus Real Madrid in a clash of the galacticos. Montrose's Hibs trialist Paddy Deane put paid to that notion when he lumbered on to Tomana's short pass to hoof well wide in the 4th minute, though Stewart's occasional marauding down Rangers' left kept Elliot Smith on his toes for most of the contest. With Paul Currie off the pace for once and Rangers midfield struggling to make any kind of impression,it took some time for Brazil and Gray to trouble Stephen Tweed and his equally substantial defensive colleagues. So when Rangers took an 18th minute lead it was something of a surprise. Smith broke down the left and hung a deep cross to the back post, where McLaren cleverly dropped off Campbell, making space to direct his header back over McLean and into the net from an acute angle. The goal settled Rangers and they began to find something more like their regular rhythm, a spate of corners allowing Greenhill and Callaghan to fire in set pieces which caused McLean some real problems. It was far from one way traffic though, and Smith saved a Montrose equaliser, heading Sinclair's header off the line with Peat well beaten in the 32nd minute.
Rangers upped the ante after the break, doubtless on the back of some hairdryer treatment from Jimmy Crease, whose touchline urgings punctuated an otherwise quiet afternoon at the field of dreams. David Greenhill and Alan Brazil, both contenders for man of the match after excellent performances, started to link well and Brazil was only denied by a brilliant McLean stop in the 51st minute after Greenhill had set him up. With Damon Gray in profligate form,missing a sitter from under the bar after Brazil's pinpoint cross from the left, Rangers were left needing a second goal to kill the game off. Brazil duly obliged in the 56th minute,slotting home from 7 yards after Gray had missed another chance but the ball broke fortuituously after Greenhill's brilliant defence splitting run had set up the initial chance. Deane caused a few flutters late on with a 20 yard piledriver that Peat ushered wide and the Gers keeper made an excellent save with his legs from Stewart after the home defence switched off.
The rest of the match was pretty much controlled by Rangers though Montrose sub Leyden provided a lively cameo with some tricky runs late on. It's also worth commenting on some of the Ducket-side linesman's calls in the second half. For the sake of the children all I'm going to say is this - we can't all be wrong.
Big mentions to Notman in addition to the other standouts,Brazil and Greenhill. Brazil has been an absolute revelation for us this season and if there's a better centre forward in the league,I'll be gobsmacked. There's an old adage that says if you can still win when playing below your best,then you're a pretty good side. Rangers looked a bit jaded for parts of the match and I wonder whether the Starnraer match took more out of them than expected,but despite the fact that the midfield looked in need of some freshening up this was the sort of result that most Rangers teams of the past few years would have screwed up. Onward and upward. If Rangers beat pre-season favourites Forfar on Saturday,they go seven points clear of them. That should be incentive enough.
Peat 6; Notman 8; Ewart 7;Guy 7;Smith 6; McLaren 6;Currie 5; Callaghan 6; Greenhill 8; Brazil 8; Gray 5.
Crowd - 436
LINK : League Table
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