Defensive errors end Rangers Senior Cup adventure

Hall Road’s East Riding Senior Cup adventure is now over after they lost 3-1 to Hull City’s academy side. Rangers played well in spells of the game but defensive mistakes cost them dearly. Bill Gill was pleased with how his side executed the game plan he and Andy Watts set them but also lamented the errors that cost them the result. “The game plan for the first 45 minutes couldn’t have gone any better. We asked the lads not to press high as that’s what Hull wanted us to do so they could pass it around us, the lads did this well and kept their shape and discipline right to the end. I said at half time that an error would cost us the game as it was that type of night and unfortunately for us it did very early on in the second half, after that we were chasing the game and they got a third goal very quickly after that”, Gill said.

The game started evenly as both sides had opportunities on goal and James Hitchcock was forced into making a good save in the Hall Road goal. However, pretty much straight after that Hull City took the lead in the 15th minute with a well taken finish from Ben Hinchcliffe. Hall Road then began to get a much better hold of the match and created better chances. They saw a shot saved well by the Hull City goalkeeper and they eventually equalised in the 35th minute through Chris Spinks after a swift route one attacking move split open the opposition defence. The 1-1 score line was a fair one at half time and Rangers will have wanted to stay in the game for as long as possible when the second half started.

The game began to slip away from Hall Road in the opening minutes of the second half when Hull City retook the lead in the 49th minute after an unfortunate slip by Dane Mortimer allowed Grey Leur to run in on goal and score their second goal. It got even worse for Rangers in the 54th minute when Will Annan grabbed a third goal and effectively killed the game off for good. Hall Road didn’t give up the fight though as they kept on creating good goalscoring chances and could have fought their way back into the match. Danny Norton and Chris Spinks both saw headers go over the bar whilst Conner Harman fired a shot over the Hull City goal. The best opportunity arrived when substitute Alex Stock had an excellent shot that was saved very well by the Hull City goalkeeper.

Hall Road boss Bill Gill was proud of his side’s performance and felt they gave a good account of themselves. “I can’t fault the boys, they were excellent and gave a very good account of themselves against tough opposition that were very repetitive and fit”, Gill said.

The focus now returns back to the league as Hall Road welcome Penistone Church to Haworth Park and they can take some confidence from this performance into that game. The fact that they carried on fighting despite being 3-1 down shows the team spirit and desire that this group of players have and that should put them in very good stead for their next game.

Gill was also happy with the opportunities his players had on the opposition goal but conceded that his side didn’t get the luck that they deserved. “I felt for the last 30 minutes of the game we had more possession and dominated at times, we hit the post and had three very good chances. It could have easily been a different outcome but it just wasn’t our night and credit to the opposition”, Gill concluded.