Rangers win in final minute

Rangers have kept their Mainland premier football league status, beating Burnside 2-1 by scoring the winning goal in the final minute of normal play.

It was the second leg of the play-off series at QE II Park on Saturday, after the two sides battled out a scoreless draw in the opening leg.

"Ecstatic" was how Rangers coach Alan Walker described the feeling after his club, the oldest in Christchurch, came from behind against Burnside, all the goals coming in the second half.

"Burnside could have been two up at the break and that would have been very hard for us to come back, but going in at half time we were still in it.

"Even when we went a goal down I was not worried as we had the better of the second half and once we levelled I knew the game was ours," said Walker, in his first season with the club.

Burnside, the largest club in the South Island, came into the play-off series having won the Canterbury League for the fourth time in succession and its management questioned the need for a play-off series.

Coach Phil Ayers, who had guided Burnside over the past four seasons, believed there should be automatic promotion.

"Without new blood coming into the league it is not progressing. If the bottom team was relegated each year I believe it would lift the standard of the teams at the bottom," he said.

Rangers keeper Peter Hawker – called into to the play-off series from masters football after Rangers' other veteran keeper, Alan Stroud, was injured – helped to restrict Burnside to just one goal. That came in the 57th minute after Rangers gave the ball away with Neil Murphy passing to Keith Grosvenor who was untroubled to score. Hawker was in the Rangers squad when his club played in the national league in the 1980s.

Six minutes later Nik Gebhardt was allowed to run unchecked into the Burnside goal area and with no challengers continued his run before scoring from a narrow angle.

Rangers then had a shot from Simon Beedles blocked on the line by keeper Greg Williamson. Both sides had several half chances before Beedles picked out Michael Fifii from a free-kick with the Solomon Islander heading the ball home for just his second goal for Rangers since transferring from Richmond City.

Scores: Burnside 1 (Keith Grosvenor) Rangers 2 (Nik Gebhardt, Michael Fifii) HT: 0- 0. Referee: Darren Sundborn. Rangers won play-offs 2 - 1 on aggregate.

- © Fairfax NZ News