It was a first half to forget for the Brewerkz squad.

Play was sloppy and we never got going. Rangers had most of the possesion and also created more chances. They got a deserved goal by following up on a free kick that hit the wall, the resulting cross was headed in by the kicker. Brewerks were clearly missing our 2 top scorers.  Kelly on the bench after showing up late and Yazid away with work commitments.  Not many chances to speak about for Brewerkz apart from a 1-1 with the keeper that was eventually hooked over the bar.

Second half saw changes with Kelly coming on for Dave who did very well keeping the Rangers winger quiet and  Ike for Jason who made a decent debut but who was on a yellow card and with fast and tricky Rangers wingers, it was not a risk we wanted to take. .
The pace of the game picked up. And Brewerkz pressed forward attacking the Rangers at every opportunity. Kelly scoring 1 off a corner from  a good delivery by Ganesh and getting 1 more from another of his runs. 2-1 and a couple of missed chances here and there meant we were far from comfortable.

Rangers made some very good tactical changes and began to pile on the pressure. What they did actually I have no clue but there was suddenly 15 minutes of constant pressure and wave after wave of Rangers attacks  which were more or less dealt with by Brewerkz.

With just seconds to go things were looking safe with 3 points in the bag. However it was not to be... a 30 yard shot from the Rangers midfielder was spilled by Nick and the opposition striker was on hand to tap in for the equaliser. The game ended 2-2 just seconds later.

The dead silence on the Brewerkz bench after the game probably summed up how disappointed we were to have lost it in the last few seconds. Yes it did feel like a loss.

This game is such that Goal Keepers, unlike most players, often do not get away with making even the smallest mistake. After a string of crucial saves and good performances in our last 2 games it was also disappointing for Nick to end the game letting in such a goal. However I have no doubts that he will bounce back and do himself justice in our next game. 

Having said that, we must also realise that as much as we lost the 2 points almost at the last kick, we should also have never been in such a position in the first place. The game was there to be taken long before that.  Wasted chances often come back to haunt us. 

We have a long way to go in terms of consistency and performance if we want to be challenging for a top 3 place. But with both Latini and Casuals losing their respective games, it was a lost opportunity for Brewerks to gain crucial points that would have brought us closer to the 2nd and 3rd spot.

Although it pains me to say, the draw in my opinion seems a fair result.  We hardly did enough to win it outright and Rangers did enough to keep it tight and they were always in it. Rangers played a good tactical game keeping our key players quiet for most part of the game and grabbing the opportunities when they came.

The referees and linesmen were top notch this weekend. It's been a long time since i could say that the yellow cards (2) for us were fully deserved. There were no major decisions to complain about. The Ref also did a good job of explaining his decisions when there were doubts/questions from the players.