MATCH REPORT
Date : 22nd October 2022
Opposition : Hawick Royal Albert
Venue : Away
Scorers : Michael Robinson (4)
Booked : Rhys Dixon
Sent Off : None
TRFC Man of the Match : Regan Graham
Attendance : 50
Team Lineup :
Niall Frampton
Kieran Cromarty
Craig Heath
Evan Smith
Rhys Dixon
Melvin Sebastian
Rhys Bloomfield
Drew Cummings
Regan Graham
Craig Bell
Michael Robinson
Subs :
Jay Atkinson on for Craig Bell 81 mins
Joao Vieira on for Kieran Cromarty 81 mins
Jack Cummings on for Rhys Bloomfield 89 mins
Jordan Crombie
Jake Gibson
Match Report :
A technicality meant that Michael Robinson bagged all four goals as Tweedmouth collected their second away League victory of the season at Albert Park.
FIRST HALF
Rangers had to wait patiently to take the lead after Craig Bell and, twice, Regan Graham came close to scoring. Graham was Rangers’ motor for much of the match but the key pass in the lead up to the 25th minute opener was fellow midfielder Drew Cummings’ out right. From there, Rhys Bloomfield delivered the ball low into the penalty area. Robinson slid in at the far post to knock it into the net.
Hawick’s finishing lacked menace until the stroke of half time when Sean Solley forced Niall Frampton to tip his more convincing shot from outside the penalty area over the bar.
SECOND HALF
Four minutes in, Melvin Sebastian advanced from midfield to pick out Robinson who went on to hit an unstoppable left foot shot high into the goal.
Tightly marked and with his back to goal, Bell laid the ball back to Cummings whose stinging grasscutter deserved better than to finish inches outside Euan Lillico’s post. Soon after ( 57 mins. ), Tweedmouth did score again. It was Graham’s shot but the referee credited the goal to Robinson, the ball hitting his knee and on to Lillico’s outstretched hand on its way in.
Hawick got a boost six minutes later. Harry Fowler played a short corner to brother Tom for an excellent diagonal strike into Tweedmouth’s goal. The latter, elder Fowler, had already made the tackle of the match in the first half when he came across to summarily stop Bell’s route forward.
Another home attack ended with Ryan Prentice firing just over the bar. Lillico, who had travelled down from Aberdeen to play, then made two good saves inside a minute from another Robinson shot and a Kieran Cromarty header.
There was more good goalkeeping as Frampton acrobatically turned Yuan Fang’s hit round his post for another Hawick corner. By now conditions were becoming increasingly difficult with continuous drizzle on a pitch turning up after heavy midweek rain. Undeterred, Evan Smith kept his footing, acting as sweeper and terminating much of what Hawick had to offer.
Tweedmouth put the issue beyond doubt ten minutes from the end of normal time. Bloomfield again sent a ball across from the right. When Bell’s attempt was blocked, the ball rose sufficiently for Robinson to complete his tally with a header.
SUMMARY
Not a game for the purists but Rangers obviously happy to take all three points and climb up the table again.