Mt Druitt Town Rangers, 3pm Monday 22nd April 2019 (home)
- philipkeegan
- Apr 25, 2019
- 3 min read
Mt Druitt were formed by two Scotsmen in 1969, and formally founded in 1970. One of them was a Rangers fan, the other a Celtic fan. Thus they took the name Rangers and used the Green of Celtic mixed with the gold of Australia to make up the clubs colours. The club has played at various levels of the state comp in its 50 years of existence, and for the first time since the NPL began were promoted to the top level this season. It is fair to say that they have struggled to adapt and they are currently next to bottom as we go into today’s game on Easter Monday at Edensor. That being said it is still early days and there is plenty of time for them to turn things around in what is a very tight comp this season.
I had originally written this game off as I was away for the long weekend in Port Stephens and it was originally scheduled for the Sunday. It was then switched to the Monday so I hoped to try to get through the holiday traffic to make the game. Of course, the traffic was a nightmare trying to get out of Nelson Bay, despite leaving early, and I was only able to get back to the city at 3pm. Being Easter Monday and the gala day that had been put on by the lads, I could not miss it. I missed the entire first half and pre-match entertainment, but made it for the majority of the second half (the game kicked off about 15 minutes late). Thanks have to go to my fabulous wife for giving up a day at the beach to come home early for the game.
I was able to keep track of the game on my phone, now that you can stream every game live. The signal was not the greatest but I was able to watch us take the lead through Peter Simonoski from a fabulous through ball to beat the offside trap just before the half hour mark. Despite this goal it hadn’t been a great first half to be honest, but after last week’s capitulation I was more than happy. It was also great to see Matthew Bilic back after so long out injured. As I was getting closer to Edensor Park, we struck again. The offside trap that Rangers were playing was broken again, this time by Gallegos, and his ball was then easily squared by Salidarre to Simonoski for a tap in to make it 2-0 right on half time.
I had the taxi driver put his foot to the floor and finally arrived at Edensor just after Rangers had pulled a goal back early in the second half. The sun was shining and the Hill Bar was serving the obligatory ice cold VB. There was another great crowd in attendance - I’m not sure of the figure, but maybe 1,600? The game at this point was finely poised at 2-1 and Rangers almost equalised in about the 70th minute, but the chance narrowly missed the top corner. Croatia were starting to look vulnerable at the back as play got edgy, but managed to wrestle back momentum. They still should have put the game to bed long before they actually did. On three separate occasions they opened up Rangers only to waste chances with only the keeper to beat. With 10 minutes left the points were finally secured when Simonoski completed his hat trick, making no mistake as he was played through – much to the delight of the crowd. He ran to Gilligan’s corner and was mobbed by the SUS and a ball boy (who took his shirt off to join in the celebrations!). It was by no means a vintage performance but a vital win that puts us up to fifth. On to Franchise FC’s youth team at Lambert park next week. Sydney Croatia Ole Ole Ole…
There was also a massive party after the game with a live band on the roof of the club in full swing after the game finished. They were forced to pull the plug around 6:30ish and move inside the club, which is when I had to make a move myself as I seemed to be the only fool who had work the next day. It was a great day at King Tom and credit has to go once again to the guys who organised it all behind the scenes. I’m sure there must have been a few hangovers Tuesday morning!
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