21/22 Match Report – 19th March

Quick and confident with the ball at their feet and allowing Tweedmouth little time on the ball, Premier Division Jeanfield Swifts proved to be the best East of Scotland team the Berwick side have met so far this season.

To compound Rangers’ woes, the Perth club’s haul included a penalty and two own goals. Worse, Rangers lost Jamie Heath, carried off with a serious injury after only 14 minutes.

Yet, the score remained at 0-0 until the 35th minute. Rangers were first to get inside the opposition’s penalty area through Sean Campbell and Michael Robinson but it was their keeper, Mark Walters, who made the first save getting off the ground to deny Rannoch Ramsay an early goal.

Several Swifts’ bids to spark attacks up the left failed because the ball was pumped too far but when Chris Scott went right his 19th minute shot finished a fraction outside the post.

Both teams went on to squander good chances in one on one situations. First, Robinson was through with only Sean Dalton left to beat but the keeper, on loan from St. Johnstone, stopped the shot with his foot. Despite Rangers’ belief he was offside, with only Walters in front of him, Connor McLaren was able to continue only to hit the ball wide.

It took a penalty to break the deadlock. Fraser Smith made no mistake with the spot kick after Evan Smith fouled Shaun Struthers near the edge of the area. Two minutes later, a rapid raid up the right culminated in Struthers cheekily back heeling the ball into the net.

Early in the second half, the visitors’ next two goals also came within two minutes of each other. With Walters’ vision impaired by the sun, Craig Heath, pressed by a wall of attackers, attempted a back pass which squeezed over the line at the near post. A long ball downfield led to former Berwick Rangers’ player Paul Simpson coolly slotting home a fourth goal.

With the Riverside Park side now very much in command, Walters scrambled to turn away a dangerous, spinning Fraser Smith free kick. In a rare well-worked Rangers’ attack, Craig Bell got the ball across to Robinson at the far post but again Dalton came out on top.

With 10 minutes left, Jeanfield advanced in numbers leaving Gary Fergus to practically walk in the fifth goal.

Tweedmouth’s score came via route one. Substitute Yassine Essalhi marked his return to action after a long absence by sweeping the ball into the net after beating Dalton to Walters’ hefty punt from the other end. It would have provided a consolation ending to the game for the home side but Swifts weren’t finished and Fraser Smith’s late corner led to a second own goal..