Anthony, Dean, Barry (David), Chris, Jamie, Flo (James), Aran, Marko (Dan), Abbas (Anis), Esad, Alastair

Written by David Binns

If the notes on the stand-in Gaffer’s notebook are anything to go by, this was a game that would deter any supporter from attending the next Hotspurs or Rangers game.

In the first half there were only two entries: 1-0 to Rangers, and 1-1 due to a great one-two between Esad and Abbas - Abbas scoring in the far corner, with the deftest of shots, with the outside of his right boot.

In fairness, there should have been a few more entries in the notebook. Alastair had a goal chalked off after the ball was correctly adjudged to have gone out of play before being crossed into Alastair’s path. The mercurial Marko smashed a shot against the crossbar. The reason they didn’t go in the notebook was probably because they came in the midst of a half full of poor passing, poor decision making, whinging, shoddy marking and a very absent central midfield.

It is usually Hotspurs who are on each others’ backs - shouting, swearing and berating each other. However, Rangers seemed to have the edge on that score and even when they went 1-0 up certain players were unhappy, which led to chants from the Hotspurs contingent of “Are you Hotspurs in disguise?”

The second half commenced just like the first, however an injury to Barry early on was the catalyst for Hotspurs to play some more inspiring and direct football. In fairness to Barry, he, Dean and Chris were the only ones who played any semblance of football for Hotspurs during the forgettable first 45 minutes. The result of the direct football was a scorching goal from Anis and a penalty calmly despatched by Esad.

A comfortable looking score line at the end, but a performance that was far from comfortable. With Casuals in the cup next week, Hotspurs will seriously have to step up two or three gears.

Wearing the captain’s armband for his last game in a Hotspurs shirt, following his $1 million move to the now defunct Northern Spirit, Dean was as solid as ever and easily the stand out Man of the Match. Hopefully Hotspurs won’t miss him too much, but there are some big shoes to fill at the heart of the defence. Others worthy of a mention were Anthony, who was solid in goal, Dean and Barry, as already mentioned and Jamie who worked tirelessly up and down the right flank.

It was also great to see Ali back warming up with the Hotspurs. Hopefully he will be pulling on the blue shirt in the near future.

Thanks to Rangers for a competitive and fair game, also to the officials who tried to keep the game flowing, whenever they could.