Brave Caddington Chequers go down fighting. The fans may have labelled them heroes for their effort but it was 3-1 defeat against a physical Victoria Rangers in sunny Dunstable today. The game started so well with Chequers causing the aging Rangers backline no end of troubles. This was capitalised at around 10 minutes when a Rob Mardell through ball found Hinton who took it past the keeper and made it 1-0. Chequers might have had a second when Onyon was put through and delightfully placed it over the oncoming keeper into the net but it was disallowed for offside. Chequers were finally caught out when centre back Stu Rolls was caught in possession leaving the Rangers forward with time and space to pick his spot for 1-1. The fans roared with boos directed towards the Chequers veteran. This following the rumours of his move to an unnamed Dutch pub team after newspaper reports last weekend. Rolls has yet to sign a new deal that was put on the table by the club and this momentary lack of concentration must surely have stemmed from the rumours. Things went from bad to worse when a long ball caught the Chequers defence out at the back and Rangers made it 2-0. Victoria Rangers have been labelled the Stoke of the LDSL and this comparison rang true with their style of play today. The physicality and long balls being the difference in the game so far.
The second half was much of the same with Chequers having plenty of chances to get back into the game. But this was thrown away when workhorse Karl Davies headed inside his own area to the Rangers striker for an easy finish and a 3-1 lead. Rangers couldn’t believe their luck and this win would take them to a surprise Runner Up position in the league. This defeat condemns Chequers to a possible relegation.
Robin Towler has had his contract extended another season despite this poor league finish and his head coach Ivan has been offered an extension too.
Robin was quoted after the match by Sky Sports as saying “I think relegation is the best thing for us, we might finally be playing at the standard the players are rather then the standard they think they are”. When asked what the team would be doing differently next season Robin replied “Winning hopefully, that’s generally what makes you a better team”.
Chequers pre-season starts the first week in June with the team off to Dubai for a 4 week tour before returning to their training ground to continue the work started by Bulgarian mastermind Ivan.
