Ruben Oggel (Chhitij Gurung (Luis Zavaleta)), Todd Konning, Jorge Cabrera, Joaquin Herrera, Tarik Stafford, Sesay Atoran (Danny Lim)

The lads always look forward to playing against Hotspurs as we consider this as sort of a mini derby, with friends playing on both sides and both teams generally even matched.  That is until this season, with Hotspurs tipping the dizzy heights of 3^rd in the league and Rangers looking like a team from Scotland… sorry Tommy J

The lads have put in some great performances over the past 6 weeks or so, with our heavy recruitment drive paying off with some talented finds.

This week, however, the attitude wasn’t right from the start and we got off to a proverbial shocker.  The first goal was a little unfortunate, after beating the keeper in the first few minutes after a deflection, however for the second goal we gave to much space to Esad and he laid the perfect pass onto his on-rushing team mate to slot in for an early 2-0 lead.

This seemed to wake up Rangers though and after the second goal we dominated the game for long periods and kept Hotspurs chances to a minimum.  Sesay and Tarik were combining well up front and our midfield was intent at playing patient ball to feet to try and carve out an opening.

The best chance of the game for us probably came just after half-time with Sesay being released on a 1 on 1 and although he had the keeper beat, his lob fell agonisingly left of the goal.  Even at the time we could see that this could have been a turning point in the match, but we didn’t let it get us down and we kept on pushing for a goal.

Mid way through the half was another potential turning point wasted, but this time it was the referee who scorned the chance to let us into the match.  Our speedy striker Sesay was clearly fouled after a good run into the box however the referee waived away our righteous claims.  While there is no doubt that this was a penalty, Sesay was probably a victim of his own reputation for falling under duress.

We had a few more chances that were saved well by Neil, but we just could manage to get the breakthrough.  As we pushed forward, Hotspurs also had a couple of chances to put the game to bed, but that would have been harsh considering the way that Rangers had played throughout this match.

Although we have now slipped one place after Hibs’s emphatic win over the Tulip growers, we know that it is only a matter of time until we pull a few shock results in the league, as we are playing well and we are building a strong squad for the future.

Well done to the Hotspurs, it’s good to see you doing well in the league and challenging the big boys!

Blacky