Rangers held to a draw at Crewe United

Crewe United 1

Banbridge Rangers 1

Banbridge Rangers are still searching for a win to kick-start their run in after another draw, this time a 1-1 stalemate against Crewe United on Saturday afternoon.

The away side started brightly and should have opened the scoring on several occasions during the opening half an hour. However, Jason Gourley and Gareth Fulton both squandered good opportunites when clean through on goal.

The match was half an hour in when Crewe managed to create an opening for their first shot from the edge of the area. Against the run of play, it led to the home side taking the lead as it deflected off the outstretched leg of Chanbers to wrongfoot Crawford and spin in to break the dead-lock.

However, their lead was short-lived as Banbridge Rangers equalised just eight minutes later. The goal came when Chris Chanbers floated in a cross-field ball from just inside the half and midfielder Mark Wilton was on hand to glance a header into the side netting to level the scores.

Both teams regrouped at the interval and in a tense and end-to-end second half, both threatened to take all three points but were unable to keep their composure in the final third.

Rangers’ best opportunity came with only seven minutes left on the clock. Porter managed to escape the attention of two defenders and pulled the ball back from the byline to find substitute Dean Gordon, who fizzed his effort narrowly past the Crewe upright from just six yards out.

They couldn’t create any more telling chances to secure the three points and so had to be content with a draw.

This was the Glenavy side’s last game of the season and the draw saw them end their campaign on 25 points, which is a target the Cheney Park men will be looking to rise above, despite being 11 points adrift. That’s because they still have six games of their league season left to play.

They continue that campaign tomorrow (Wednesday) as Banbridge Rangers host league-leaders Dollingstown at Havelock Park before what will be a crucial double-header with Lisanally Rangers.

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