Enniskillen Rangers 1 Dergview Reserves 2

Enniskillen Rangers suffered just their second league defeat to Dergview Reserves at the weekend as Tummery Athletic overtook Michael Kerr’s side to go top in Division One after a 2-1 win over Magheraveely.

Two early goals were Rangers’ donwfall in the end as they could only pull a late strike back from midfielder Nathan Khan. Rangers boss Kerr was disappointed with Saturday’s result but said his side didn’t do enough to warrant taking three points in extremely windy conditions at The Ball Range.

“With regards to Saturday, disappointing result, I think it was our first defeat in 11 games or close to that, we had been on a good run, so it was disappointing to lose,” he said.

“The game itself, it was probably a fair result. We were 2-0 down and we left ourselves a mountain to climb, we were probably lucky we didn’t go further behind with (Rangers goalkeeper) Joel Peden making a few saves. I felt Dergview were good value for their 2-0 lead.

“Overall, I think the result was fair, we definitely didn’t deserve to win, if we had got a point it would have been a bit of a steal.”

Rangers face a tricky test at home to Strathroy Harps this weekend as they look to finish the calendar year with a win at The Ball Range.

“We have to make sure we bounce back this week, our last game of 2023 at home to Strathroy,” Kerr added.

“Never an easy game. But we’ll be looking for a reaction from the players and as I said, finish 2023 on a high and we would be in a good place come the start of 2024 in January if you are around the top of the table and still in the Junior (Cup).”

Saturday’s encounter with Dergview started with a Rangers error as a cheap giveaway led to Dylan Aiken setting up a Dergview midfielder to make it 1-0.

The second came just before the 30-minute mark as a good build-up the visitors pierced a hole down the right-hand wing and a missed slide tackle during the cross saw Shea Devlin poke the ball into the net after wandering into the box unmarked.

There were chances for either side as Peden and his fellow goalkeeper were forced into making saves. Rangers halved the deficit late on with a rocket of a free kick from Khan that found the top right corner.

And they were close to snatching a point as Ciaran Brough’s header almost tied the game after but his effort was saved as Dergview held on to run out 2-1 winners.