Hall Road Rangers were comprehensively beaten by South Cave United on Saturday as they suffered a 4-1 defeat.

The early stages of the game saw both sides have half chances. South Cave fired an effort over the bar in the eighth minute whilst Rangers created an opening a minute later through a Lucas Robinson shot which went straight at the South Cave keeper.

In the 15th minute, Rangers took the lead courtesy of a debut goal from Kian Salter as he sent a great strike into the back of the net.

A long throw into the Hall Road box caused problems in the 21st minute which led to a header being put just wide by the hosts. Two minutes later, South Cave equalised when former Rangers player Josh Tennant bundled the ball home. In the 26th minute, the hosts turned things round and took the lead thanks to a Craig Sedman effort.

South Cave extended their lead a couple of minutes before the break as a shot from Tom Andrews went through Rangers keeper Haydn Withill and squirmed into the back of the net.

There wasn’t a significant reaction from Hall Road in the second half and South Cave looked more likely to add to their lead. They did exactly that in the 65th minute when Tennant made it a brace for himself by getting to the ball before Withill and looping it into the empty net.

Hall Road Rangers: Withill, Williams (Miller 67’), Pulford, J. Hall, Chaffer, Andrew (C), Loughton (O’Malley 67’), Waud, Iversen (Shepard 67’), Salter, Robinson.

Sub Not Used: Emmerson.

Reflecting on the game, Rangers boss Leon Sewell admitted that his side still have a lot to learn and work on:

“Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions flying around after a heavy defeat. In true reflection, South Cave fully deserved their victory.

A really bad day at the office and there’s no excuses from me or the players. Six senior players unavailable and six players aged 19 and under featured in the squad and it’s a huge learning curve for all of us.

What’s most disappointing is I thought we were the better team at the start of the game and new signing Kian Salter took his goal exceptionally well. We failed to push on and let South Cave back into the game very easily.

The Humber Premier League has some tough, strong and footballing sides in it and we need to quickly adapt to it. Otherwise, we’ll be left behind the chasing pack as such.

Hopefully, we’ll have some players return to training in midweek as we prepare for Hessle Sporting away which’ll be another tough test away from home.”