CULLOMPTON RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB

SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST A FOOTBALL CLUB

All three Senior teams have had their matches cancelled on 6th Feb due to waterlogged pitches. The First Team were due to visit Elburton. That still leaves them weith 22 games to play. Speeds Meadow is out of action following heavy overnight rain. The Ladies were due to play Swindon on Sunday but they have had three of their team selected for Devon so their game is off.

Following a referee's inspection Tuesday night's scheduled game against Clyst Rovers has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. New date for the fixture is 13th April. The home game against Plymouth Parkway will noe be played on Friday 5th March as we try to catch up on games.The last SWPL game to be played at Speeds Meadow was on 17th October! Roll on the summer. Also check Reserves and Thirds sites for their revised fixtures.

Rangers went down limply to Penzance on Saturday. Lee sums up the performance "The first half was way below par. I saw it in the warm up, the lads looked lethargic and yes, it was a pudding of a pitch and, yes we had had two and a half hours in a minibus, but hey, that's football at this level. At this time of year nine out of ten surfaces are going to be the awkward sort and that's when sleeves need to be rolled up and big hearts start pumping but we got nothing out of the lads in a poor first half performance. To be fair to the boys things improved after the break but the damage had already been done. The frustrating thing is that we had a couple of good chances in the second period and I felt that if we could get one we would get something out of the game but it was'nt to be."

The Reserves moved up to 2nd in Division 1 with a hard earned victory against a good Sidbury team. Andy Rawlings admitted that his team were not at their best but pure hard work saw them through. "I was ready to settle for a draw but when Matthew was hauled down in the box in injury time and the inevitable penalty decision was given it was great to have someone with Matthew's experience on hand to despatch the spot kick. We must not get carried away with the fact that we are now up to 2nd place. We have a massive game on Saturday when we entertain league leaders Heavitree and we will have to up our game for the top of the table clash."

Lee Jenner's team were far too strong for Dunkeswell and ran out easy winners by 6-1. Star of the show was Luke Robinson with a hat trick. The other goals came from Ian Allen, Dan Greening and Andy Dickson. Lee said "It was important that we bounced back after our defeat by Awliscombe in mid week. The lads did all that I asked of them so we are now looking forward to Saturday when we entertain Wellington."

Rangers moved into the next round of the St Lukes Bowl with a victory over Clyst Rovers. The 3-0 scoreline probably flattered the home team a little but there was no doubt that the better team on the night went through to earn a trip to Barnstaple Town. Lee was chuffed to bits "I am sure that performance will do the lads confidence the world of good. I thought we passed the ball well and looked solid at the back. I was impressed with new lad Phil Stokes in midfield and he looks a good addition to the squad. We must now build on this and start moving up the league."

Lee Annunziata was upbeat about the team's performance at Ivybridge despite the team going down by the only goal. "The lads did everything I asked of them and the effort from everyone was a sgood as we have seen all season without exception. The only moan i had was that we did not take one of the four or five excellent chances we created but I can put the poor finishing down to our recent lack of games."

The Reserves will now entertain Heavitree Social Utd on 6th Feb and the Thirds will now be at home to Wellington.

We have rearranged our Devon Bowl game against Clyst Rovers for Tuesday 12th January with a 7.30pm ko. Other fixtures in January are as follows:- First team Dartmouth(H) 2nd; St Blazey(A) 9th; No fixture 16th; Ivybridge(A) 23rd; Penzance(A) 30th. Reserves Halwill(A) 2nd; Halwill(H) 9th; Elmore(H) 16th; East Budleigh(H) 23rd; Sidbury(H) 30th. Thirds Feniton(H) 2nd; Claton Raleigh(A) 9th;Westexe(H) 16th; Hemyock(H) 23rd; Dunkeswell(H) 30th.

Lloyd Beech has left the club to join Bickleigh and Willand Rovers. We wish him all the best for whichever side he decides to play for. We have secured the signing of midfielder Phil Stokes who has had experience with Taunton Town and is currently studying at Plymouth University. Lee has also bolstered the squad with the signing of defender Peter Eveleigh from Clyst Rovers. All we want to do now is play football

Rangers put up a disappointing display against Crediton and were deservedly beaten by 2 goals to 1. The Rangers goal was scored by Roger Bonaparte. Lee felt that the better team won on the night and realises that it is now time some new blood was introduced.

Rangers go down at Bovey Tracey but there are wins for Reserves and Thirds.

After a lengthy lay off Rangers looked ring rusty at Bovey Tracey and it was well into the second half before they threatened the home team. A second half penalty by Harry Taylor seemed to have earnt the vivitors a pooint but a late strike from Mark Sneap ensured that Rangers went home empty handed. Lee was disappointed with the outcome "We were simply not at the races in the first half. I accept that we have not played for 6 weeks but I was hoping that that would have made my players hungrier. They seemed unhappy with the system in the first half and when I changed it to 4-4-2 the players upped their performances by 15% and we really took the game to Bovey and when we equalised it looked like we would go on and win the game but poor defending cost us the game in the end."

Two goals by Matthew Scott ensured 3 points for the Reserves at Elmore and cemented their third placed spot in Division 1. Any Rawlings said "This was a battling performance on an awful surface and I am naturally delighted to come away with the 3 points. The lads dug deep against a useful Elmore side."

Lee Jenner was equally pleased to take 3 points from Exmouth Amateurs "It was great to play on the main pitch although some of my players were struggling a bit at the end. We have worked hard at training and, in the main, our players finished the stronger."

Rangers away game with Witheridge scheduled for next Saturday has been brought forward to Friday night with a 7.30 ko. Don't forget that we play Crediton on Tuesday night in the Throgmorton Cup. 

Some new fixture dates for your diary:

Falmouth(H) 27th April: Bodmin(A) 10th April; Holsworthy(A) 10th March

Leading scorer Nick Murray has departed Speeds Meadow for East Division side Ottery St Mary. Nick says that he is unable to commit to Premier Division football. He moves on with our best wishes and thanks for the goals he scored for us. He will be difficult to replace but Lee has moved quickly to snap up Jack Drawbridge who has just moved to the area from the Midlands. Jack is a wide left sided player and has experience with Telford. He trained with the lads on Tuesday night and was giving a hard baptism as ex manager Ray Pratt put the lads through their paces.

Speeds Meadow has dried out considerably following the deluge last weekend but the weather forecast is not encouraging. Fingers crossed that we miss the storms which are scheduled to come our way on Thursday and Friday. The Thirds will be praying for a couple of dry days as they prepare for their Bill Slee Cup clash with Awliscome. Kick off is 2pm. The Reserves have a tricky fixture at Heavitree Social United who currently top Division 1.

The Reserves came back from University with 3 points on Saturday. First half strikes from Alex Greening, Kris Yelland and Matthew Scott put Rangers in control. But the students pulled a goal back early in the second and put the visitors under pressure for long periods. But the defence, superbly marshalled by Andy Carnell stood firm. Manager Andy Rawlings said "It is never an easy p;lace to go to and to come home with 3 points is a real bonus. We were excellent in the first half and could have and even bigger lead but Uni introduced a couple of substitutes which seemed to inspire them as they were a different team in the second half. The early goal put us on the defensive and we sat back too much but we rode out the storm and deserved our win."

Lee Jenner was less than complimentary about their referee at Exmouth Amateurs "I felt we were robbed of at leat a draw because the referees performance. We could easily have taken a point after having two stone wall penalties turned down and then their winning goal resulted from a free kick being taken 20 yards from where the offence took place. We all stopped expecting the kick to be taken from the correct place, they went on and scored and the ref allowed the goal." Rangers cause was not helped by having two players sent off.

Lee has completed the signing of 19 year old George Robinson from Exeter Civil Service "He is a quick lad with tremendous potential and it is down to us to bring the best out of him. It gives me a few options as he can play wide or up front." Speeds Meadow is very damp but we would have been ableo play there today. Groundsman John Chambers said "Tomorrow's game should go ahead providing that we do not get anymore heavy rain. Is is bound to be heavy going but fingers crossed that the Gods will be kind to us and we can see some action at Speeds Meadow." Tonight's SWPL game between Parkway and Bovey Tracey has become the first casualty of the weekend/The Thirds will be at home to the winners of Awliscombe and Colaton Raleigh in the next round of the Football Express which will be played on 21st November Cup/The Reserves now have a rearranged fixture at Heavitree Social Club on that day.

Lee was hugely disappointed after the second half performance at Parkway "We were superb in the first half, we hit the woodwork twice and their jeeper brought off a string of fine saves but somehow we went in all square at 1-1 thanks to the referee being conned into giving them a penalty right on the stroke of half time. That decision seemed to kill us off and we were simply not the same team in the second period. I'm not making any excuses we were simply not at the races. I need more winners and leaders in my team. Our fitness levels were not good enough. I will just have to look for replacement players if it carries on."

Rangers Reserves maintained third spot with a professional performance at home to Beacon Knights. They ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Matthew Scott and Alex Greening.

The Thirds came from behind to beat Thorverton. Two goals from Ian Allen and one from substitute Dan Greening were enough to secure 1 3-2 victory.

The floodlights have been repaired so Rangers are all set to entertain Crediton on Tuesday night as they have second attempt at getting the game played. Kick off is at 7.30.

Friday night's cup match against Crediton was called off just before kick off when the control unit on one of the floodlights caught on fire. The game has been re-scheduled for Tuesday 3rd November. Secretary Marcus Scott was naturally dejected about the incident "We had a good crowd building up even though it was a filthy night. We had to meet expenses of the match officials, there are printing costs and food which had been laid on on top of the fact that we had no gate receipts. But it was nobody's fault. We have had the floodlights for 11 years now and that is the first time we have had any problems. Unfortunately repairs are going to run into hundreds of pounds which we can ill afford at this time." The game has been rescheduled for Tuesday 3rd November.

The Reserves went out of the East Devon Senior Cup at Sidmouth. Nobody gave the boys much hope but they held the leaders of the Premier Division until ten minutes from the end when ex Cully boy Ben Ashford got their decisive goal. Jamie Cottrell scored for Rangers. Jamie was the only player in the team with any first team appearances this season so if the lads can play like that every week they should be up their challenging for honours at the end of the season.

Lee's Third Team went through to the next round of The Football Express Cup with a resounding 4-0 win over Broadclyst.

The Ladies ran riot at Reading on Sunday when they overcame their hosts 14-0.

Lee was shell shocked after the embarrassing 5-0 defeat at home to second from bottom Launceston. "They were a different team to the one we played down there a few weeks ago but let's not talk about them, I would rather focus on what went wrong with my team. We were simply never at the races and I don't know why. We started with same line up which did so well against Saltash but you would have thought that it was a different group of players. We have an ideal opportunity to bounce back against Crediton on Friday night, but if we play like that again we will have a real struggle on our hands."

The Thirds also found themselves on the end of a 5-0 scoreline. Lee Jenner said that they got what they deserved "NOTHING."

The Ladies raced into a 2-0 lead at Plymouth Argyle but were finally pegged back by two late goals and had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Rangers players put in a tremendous shift to lower the colours of unbeaten Saltash. Goals from Nick Murray and Harry Taylor ensured three points and a move up to 9th in the league. Lee was naturally "over the moon" with the display of his team especially with the fact that they kept a clean sheet for the first time this season. He commented "It is obviously a concern when you start shipping goals and then you come up against a strike force that Saltash have at their disposal, so I decided to play Danny B behind Darren and Gary with Jamie and Ollie operating as wing backs. After a scary first half hour when we rode our luck I thought the system worked really well and to keep a clean sheet was a bonus. When we scored right on half time it seemed to take the wind out of the Saltash sails and I thought that second half we created the better chances. We always looked dangerous on the break and looked reasonably comfortable in defence. Perhaps we will have to play all of our games under lights because it certainly brings the best out of my lads."

Match Report now posted.

The Reserves will visit University on 7th November and The Thirds will travel to Exmouth Amateurs. Both games will kick off at 2.15pm.

Rangers staged a late comeback from 4-1 down at Falmouth but did not do enough in the end. Sloppy defending at two set pieces early in the second half was their downfall and but for some great goalkeeping from Garno the scoreline could have been worse before the introduction of Roger Bonaparte as a substitute put the home team on the back foot. Roger's two headed goals added to Harry Taylor's cool finish in the first half should have been enough to get something out of the game but Rangers paid the price for poor defending.

The Reserves moved up to 3rd in Division 1 thanks to two goals from Player/Manager Matthew Scott.

The Thirds also moved up the table with a comprehensive 10-0 victory over Broadclyst at Speeds Meadow. Ian Allen led the rout with a personal tally of 5 goals.

A late strike from the Wadebridge striker prevented all of our senior teams making a clean sweep of victories last weekend. The first team were held to a 3-3 draw by Wadebridge in a game which paid dearly for missing chances. A superb Nick Murray hat trick ensured a share of the spoils. The Reserves returned gfrom Beer Albion with all three points. Andy said "The lads were superb. It is never and easy place to go to get a result but we thoroughly desrved the 3 points. Andy Carnell, Paul Dugard and Ollie Burns got the goals. The Thirds got back to winning ways with a solid performance at home to Lords XI. Goals from Ian Allen and Liam Holmes did the trick. Lee Jenner was naturaly delighted "Lords are a very good side but it was a game we never looked like losing after Laim's great strike put us in front. I was particularly pleased with the way we defended to keep a clean sheet."

Rangers Under 15's have suffered two serious injuries. Curtis Goff has broken his arm and Russell Whiteway has dislocated his shoulder playing rugby. This leaves Andy Barnard's team short of two of their best players for a lengthy period. Everyone at the club wishes both lads a speedy recovery.

All three Senior teams tasted defeat on Saturday. The First team were muscled out of it by Torpoint who went home 2-1 winners. Gary Hunt claimed the Rangers goal, his third of the season. Lee thought "Torpoint were a good physical side and I thought they were stronger than us. Once again we felt we should have cast iron penalty in the first half when Nick Murray was cleaned out by their keeper but those decisions are just not going our way at the moment. It was good to have Harry and Ollie back but they are obviously short of match practice so I have arranged a friendly with Exmouth for Tuesday night to give them both a workout."

Matthew and Andy were naturally down after their defeat at Morchard Bishop especially after taking the lead with only half and hour to go. Andy commented that "we looked quite comfortable at 1-0 and we could easily have extended our lead but injuries to Alex Greening and Ethan Pratt hit us badly and unfortunately we were lacking quality on the bench and in the end we were grateful to hear the final whistle. We were desperately short of strikers and had to use Matthew up top and although he scored a quality goal we missed his presence in defence."

Lee Jenner was another dejected manager on Saturday night after their 2-0 defeat at Wellington. He felt that they deserved a draw and was less than complimentary about the referee. They now look forward to the visit of Lords on Saturday.

The ladies went down 7-0 at Forest Green but the bad news was that Lola was taken to hospital with a nasty hip injury. Hopefully it does not turn out to be too serious.

This was a poor performance from the home team. Lee was naturally very down after the game "We had enough chances to have won the game easily but we were woeful in front of goal. We have not worked their keeper and although we sadly missed the fire power of Nick Murray I felt that we had enough about us to have gone through to the next round. Obviously the penalty which turned out to be the winner was a disgrace as the referee clearly shouted NO to the Verwood appeals before awarding a penalty which turned out to be the match winner. But it would be wrong to blame the referee, thge players need to look at their own performances first. It is now my job to pick the players up and concentrate on our League form and get them ready for the visitof Torpoint on Saturday."

Lee Jenner was naturally delighted with the |Third team. They won by a single Chris Beddow strike at Dunkeswell. Lee said "We had enough chances to have won the game 6-0 so things go a bit nervy at the end. I am just glad that we hung on for the 3 points which we richly deserved."

Rangers lost by the only goal at Tavistock. It came in the 82nd just minutes after Gareth Davis had clearly been fouled by The Lambs keeper in the penalty area. The early exchanges had been even but Rangers were under the cosh for a lot of the second half but were creating chances, one of which left Gareth Davis racing on to a through ball from Roger Bonaparte. The Rangers midfielder clearly got to the ball first and the ball rolled on to hit the post and bounce to safety. Our lads heard the loud whistle of the referee who appeared to point to the spot but to the amazement of the Rangers players the Plymouth referee awarded a free kick against Gareth for dangerous play. Almost immediately a hopeful clearance out of defence by a Tavvy defender appeared to be under control with Danny, Shunter and Garno in position to clear and the lonely home team striker hopelessly outnumbered but somehow he got a toe to the ball and the Rangers just watched in disbelief as the ball ran agonisingly over the line.

Lee was naturally gutted"I still cannor accept the referee's decision regarding the penalty. I am convinced that he awrded the pen then changed his mind. He claimed their keeper got to the ball first yet it has ended up behind him. On reflection we had a lot of defending to do but I thought we were reasonably comfortable until the fateful mix up. At times like that I am looking for players to take responsibility and one of them should have just put the ball in Row Z. Apart from that one mistake I was really pleased with our defending but we missed Nick up front and did'nt work their keeper hard enough."

Rangers Reserves went down 3-1 at home to Newtown in the Devon Senior Cup on saturday. David Hood's deflected effort gave Rangers the lead but sloppy defending let them down. The one positive to come out of the game was the performance of new keeper Mike Chanter. Andy Rawlings blamed the sides attitude for the defeat "too many of our lads got carried away with our win over Bow and thought that we just had to turn up to win. We relaxed after we scored and paid the penalty. It's a shame that we don't have a game this Saturday because I would like to get that performance out of our system."

Lee Jenner was gutted with the penalty awarded against his third team in the dying seconds at Westexe. Rangers were leading 2-1 at the time and were in control until the very end. Lee siad "It was never a penalty. I am so disappointed because we look set for the 3 points."

Lee reflected on the victory over Witheridge "I had to make a very difficult decision before the game, I wanted to play three up front in attempt to exploit the defensive frailties of the opposition but this meant that I had to leave out two of my best players from Saturday in Niall and Luke. But I am paid to make tough decisions and on this occasion the tactic paid off but I was delighted with the response I got from the two lads and they know that they are a major part of the squad. Fortunately Nick was able to get us two goals but last night he also showed us what else he brings to the team with his pace and work rate and he caused Witheridge problems all night. Although everyone played their part in the win I thought our central defenders were superb keeping a tight reign on Simon Bochenski and Matt Dawson, but the effort put in by everyone was immense and at the end of the game I was a very proud manager." MATCH REPORT NOW POSTED.

Nick Murray was a two goal hero as Rangers defeated Witheridge in the Mid Devon derby at Speeds Meadow on Tuesday night. Murray twice ran clear of the visiting defence and, unlike in the previous home game when the striker fluffed his lineson more than one occasion he more than made up for it with a brace of clinical finishes. With manager Lee Annunziatta back from his holiday and back in the dugout Rangers took to the pitch with a three man strike force of Murray, Alvin Pollard and Roger Bonaparte and the tactic worked a treat with those two early goals. Former Rangers player-of-the-year, Simon Bochenski,fired Witheridge back into the contest before the break but there were to be no further goals and Rangers ran out 2-1 winners and with that climb into the top three of the Peninsula League Premier Division. The nearest the contest came to a goal in the second half was when Lloyd Beech saw his bullet header from a Chris Bedford corner, somehow kept out by Witheridge glovesman, Chris Wright.

PREVIOUS NEWS.....................

Darren Grabham is the only absentee for tonight's clash with Witheridge. He is still away on holiday but Lloyd Beech should be available assuming that he gets back from Bulgaria in one piece. Roger Bonaparte picked up a slight thigh strain

The Reserves had a perfect start to their new season with a fine 4-2 victory over Bow. Two goals apiece for David Hood and James Macmartin ensured a winning start to the new campaign.

Unfortunately the Thirds could not make it three wins as they suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Bickleigh.

A first home defeat for Rangers as they go down 3-1 to a bright Bovey Tracey side who capitalised on some poor defending to seal their first win of the season. Nick Murray had fired Rangers level a minute before the break - this after the visitor's went ahead from the penalty spot after Gary Hunt had felled Lee Chapman and Liam McCauley scored. Murray's equaliser was the 4th really good oportunity the striker had had in a first half dominated by the home side. Debutant Roger Bonaparte also had a brace of opportunites and so, it was with some surprise that Rangers went in all square and not well ahead - 4-1 would probably have been a more fitting first half score line! However, after the break it was Bovey who looked the sharper, the brighter, and the more interested. They deservedly went 2-1 up through Chapman and then their sharpest player, Simon Revell, danced through a static back line to seal a 3-1 win.

CHECK OUT SOME SUPERB PHOTOGRAPHS NOW ON THE ACTION GALLERY FROM THE CAMERA OF BILL GOFF - he has captured the moment that 'Garno' is beaten by the opening goal. Also Match Report now posted.

Danny Burwood was disappointed with the second half performance of his team against Bovey Tracey. "I thought we did OK in the first half and should have led comfortably at half time but scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football. Once we had equalised I thought that there would only be one winner. But I am afraid that we just went through the motions in the seond half and the fact that there keeper did not have a save to make says everything about our performanace. If we had won we would have sitting on the top of the table, I know that it is very early days but that would have been a nice feeling at the end of August. We must now get this out of our system, wotk hard at training on Tuesday night and be ready for the trip to Launceston."

Stand in manager Danny Burwood was delighted with the 3-2 victory over high flying Elburton Villa. "It was a very good all round performance all over the park and in particular from the subs bench. I was very impressed with the contributions made by James Macmartin and Alex Greening who both came off the bench to play their part. It was so important that after a below par performance against Gillingham last week that we showed character and bounced back, and that is exactly what we did. I was also particularly impressed with Niall Martin who made his first start for the club."

Lee reflects on Monday night's game.

Rangers returned from Buckland on Monday night with a hard earned point thanks to a late Chris Bedford strike. Lee was naturally delighted with a point against a team who will surely be challenging for honours at the end of the season. "We were under the cosh for long spells and we had the woodwork to thank on a couple occasions but I thought our workrate and determination to get something from the game was simply outstanding. I had 14 heroes out there tonight and everyone of them worked their socks off I don't think that anyone can begrudge us the point we came away with."

Lee has had chance to reflect on the Buckland performance. "We had to dig deep but nobody could begrudge us the point because we could have won the game - it was one of the best performances I have seen us put in for a long time. I expect Buckland to be in the top 2 this season, but to play like we did and get the result we did left me chuffed to bits. We have built a really good team spirit during pre-season and that came through during the game. We scored a scruffy goal but that iis the sort of luck you need sometimes. They hit the bar and post, but we had one kicked off the line so the game could have gone either way. Overall it was a cracking game played in front of nearly 200 people."

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