Rangers travelled to Arlesey Town on Saturday for this league fixture and came away with all the points following a three-nil victory. All of the goals came in the second half, which was fortunate for the writer of this report, who only arrived at the game five minutes before half time due to an accident on the motorway. According to information provided, Rangers enjoyed the majority of the first half with goalkeeper Jack Brooker rarely troubled. The Arlesey keeper twice denied Marcus Wyllie when the Rangers striker was though on goal and Rangers midfielder, Keiron Schmidt, missed a simple chance from close range with the goal gaping. There were also chances for Gavin James and Asher Yearwood but to no avail. The visitors suffered a blow early on when influential midfielder Ben Sturgess came off injured after only 15 minutes, replaced by Liam Enver-Marum. As the half time whistle blew the Rangers support were left to wonder whether those missed chances would be costly.
Those fans worries were soon allayed however when four minutes into the second half, James was on hand to stab the ball home at the far post following a Rangers corner, to give them the lead. Arlesey looked to get back into the game with some decent approach play but the Rangers back four were in resilient mood. Rangers hit back though, as James almost scored a second with a clever turn and shot which was well saved. Half chances came and went until, in the 63rd minute, Rangers doubled their lead. A corner from the left came to skipper Josh Urquhart through a crowd of players and he made no mistake with an unstoppable half volley that left the net bulging. Rangers were now on top and continued to have most of the possession, playing some nice football despite the very uneven surface. In the last ten minutes Rangers manager, Mark Eaton, introduced Bailey Osbourne and Evans Lamboh, with both having a telling impact. With five minutes remaining, teenager Osbourne robbed his marker and closed in on the Arlesey goal, evading a couple of challenges before rifling home a left foot shot from 12 yards to make it three nil. He almost got a second when he was cleverly set up with a neat back heel from Enver-Marum, the Arlesey keeper making an excellent save. It was a good win on the road for Rangers, who controlled the game for long periods, though Arlesey, who were missing a couple of key players, made it difficult with a combative display. Risborough will be hoping to carry this form into Tuesday night's home fixture versus London Colney. Kick off at the BEP Stadium is 7.45pm.
Rangers Man of the Match: Alex Kedzierski. Based on what I saw second half, AK caught my eye. The midfielder-come centre back looked commanding defensively and brought the ball out of defence to good effect, starting many of the Rangers attacking phases with some great passes.