NFC Kesh 6

Enniskillen Rangers 0

Kesh hit nine man Enniskillen Rangers for six on Saturday at a sodden Michael Connolly Park as the champions for the last two years lost valuable ground in this year’s title race.

Veteran Mark Jones was the man who put Rangers to the sword by showing he is still one of the deadliest strikers in the league as he plundered four goals which complemented strikes from Jordan Cadden and substitute Kane Connor.

The win leaves Kesh comfortably in mid table while the back to back defeats for the ‘Gers leaves them three points off table toppers Enniskillen Town who also have a game in hand.

This game pretty much changed in the eighth minute when Jones pounced on a mistake from Richard Johnston to race through on goal before Johnston upended him as he was about to shoot.

Referee Craig Holley pointed to the spot and brandished a straight red to Johnston. Jones tucked the spot kick away with ease sending Gareth Barbour the wrong way for 1-0.

Kesh doubled their money soon after when Lee Walker’s diagonal ball played Chris McDowell in behind the Rangers defence and he crossed for Jordan Cadden who slotted home from close range for 2-0.

Rangers, despite being a man down, finally got going and dominated for the next 15 minutes but some good goalkeeping in tricky conditions from Joshua Brownlee kept them at bay.

Stuart Rainey, who battled hard throughout, was the first to test Brownlee who did not hold onto the ball in the wet conditions but did enough to clear.

Then there was mayhem in the Kesh box as Mark Cutler had a rasping shot saved and Neil Coulter had two efforts the latter of which saw his header loop over the bar.

Michael Kerr then went close with a quickly taken free but Brownlee was again up to the task.

Rangers really needed to score from this pressure to make a game of it but they did not and matters were compounded just before the interval when they lost their second player to a straight red card.

Again Jones was to the fore as he tried to break through on the halfway line but was unceremoniously dumped to the ground by Michael Kerr.

Referee Holley produced a second red deeming Kerr to be the last man despite full backs Conor Watson and Matty Chambers being either side of Kerr.

The vocal protestations saw more cards flashed but when the half time whistle sounded soon after, Rangers were down to nine men and two goals behind.

The second half played out predictably as Rangers struggled with the numerical disadvantage and a clinical Mark Jones delivered the knockout blows.

His first effort of the half slipped wide of the post when played through but he made no mistake soon after when Kesh broke from a Rangers attack and he made no mistake for 3-0.

Jones also added numbers four and five with quality finishes before Kane Connor rounded off the drubbing with the sixth to seal great back to back wins for Scott Robinson’s charges.

After the game Kesh boss, Scott Robinson, was understandably delighted with the result and the performance:

“I thought we were excellent today. We moved the ball around very well and our pace in behind really caused them problems. I know that Rangers can point to the sending offs but I felt that we were well on top before anyone was sent off and that the result would have been the same. I just felt we had a day where things clicked for us and I could see it coming if I’m honest. I knew that when we put together a performance that we would beat a team well and Rangers were on the end of that performance.”

This week Kesh are in action in the Junior Cup away from home against 22OB in the Junior Cup and Robinson is looking forward to the challenge:

“It is always a bit of an unknown travelling away in the Junior Cup but we just want to continue with the things the way they have been going. Our younger players have really pushed the older fellas on and we are getting more players back too which is a good sign but we have to keep it going now.”

Meanwhile for Rangers boss, Michael Kerr, it was a case of a game to forget:

“Regarding Saturday’s, a game we want to forget quickly. The sendings off affected the result over the 90 minutes. I have no doubt that this would have been a totally different result had it been 11 v 11 against an average Kesh side,” he said before adding:

“We have to regroup and stick together after back to back defeats for the first time in a number of years in the league, Something that we are not used to but it’s hopefully just a blip and we can get back to winning ways this weekend against a Lisbellaw side who themselves are on a good run,

“We know it won’t be easy but I am expecting a massive performance from our lads.”