Warrnambool Rangers’ victorious under 17 side.
They say two out of three ain’t bad, and Warrnambool Rangers president John Berg agrees.
Of the three sides playing in Ballarat and District Soccer Association grand finals at Ballarat’s Morshead Park over the weekend, two brought home new silverwear for the club’s expanding collection.
“Three would have been magnificent, but two is fantastic, we are thrilled,” a jubilant Berg said.
Following on the senior men’s victory on Saturday night, the under 17 side had a 2-1 win over North United yesterday afternoon.
Berg, who is also the under 17 coach, said that despite a slow start, the Rangers managed to regroup in the second half and get across the line.
He said the Rangers were down 1-0 at half-time.
“They came out and hit us pretty hard in the first half, and I think our boys were suffering from some finals nerves,” Berg said.
“The first half wasn’t our best performance by a long shot.”
Berg said that after half-time, it was like a different team was on the field.
“They regrouped and started playing some good football, and were working much better as a team,” he said. About midway through the half Eli Slater scored the equaliser.
“That boosted the boys’ confidence a bit,” he said.
Berg said Sam Dart then scored what would become the winning goal.
“We still had about 20 minutes to play, so there were some tense times on the sidelines,” he said.
“All it would have taken was a single mistake and the game would have been on the line.
“We only had one substitute on the bench, so if it had have gone into extra time we would have had some issues.”
Berg said it was a fitting end to the season for the team which dominated the competition all year.
“We finished on top of the ladder and only lost one game all year,” Berg said.
The Rangers under 15 team missed out on premiership glory, losing its grand final match against Vic Park 2-1.
Despite Rangers finishing the regular season on top of the ladder, Vic Park proved to be too strong.
Coach Phil Burns said with the scored tied at 0-0 at half-time, the Rangers were looking good.
“But they came out firing in the second half,” Burns said.
“We had a few chances to score in the first half, but we couldn’t pull them off.”
jwoolley@standard.fairfax.com.au
