Deeping Rangers 1 v Lincoln United 3 - PSF

Saturday 21st July 2018
Pre Season Friendly
at the Haydon Whitham Stadium
Deeping Rangers (1) 1
David Burton Jones 23
Lincoln United (1) 3
Paul Grimes 11 pen
Rob Norris 48
Kevin Hemagou 74
Admission £4
Picture Gallery, Part 1: click HERE
Picture Gallery, Part 2: click HERE

The quaint and bijou market town that made for today's football travels destination, stands roughly eleven miles to the north of Peterborough and eight miles to the east of Stamford, or sixty two miles due south from my house, via the much maligned A1, which, as per usual, was living up to it's well earned reputation today, as the longest queue of stationary motor vehicles in the entire universe since Jesus was a lad.

Market Deeping CC (in white) v Louth CC (in white)
It's all going off here this afternoon.

Market Deeping, is home to a little over 6,000 residents and has a multi sports complex, the whole of which was officially opened in 1999 (fourteen years after Rangers started playing on the site), that stands to the north of this most rural of countryside conurbations, seving the local community with three separate football pitches, all with their own changing facilities and brick built dug outs, along with tennis courts and a cricket club... as well as housing within it's boundaries, a tidy, conifer lined enclosure, that goes by the name of the Haydon Whitham Stadium, the home of the local football club, Deeping Rangers, who I'd finally made my maiden voyage to visit this afternoon.

The DEEPING RANGERS FC lettering across the main stand roof,
need putting back up since the ground was repainted last week

The ground itself has an impressive main stand, that doubles up as a seating area to one end and a covered standing and refreshments zone to the other. In 2000 the floodlights were erected and in 2005, the seats were upgraded, when the one hundred and sixty four current smart looking ones were purchased from Coventry City, who were holding a 'closing down sale' when they moved from Highfield Road to the Ricoh Arena. Behind the goal nearest the main entrance and turnstile block, there is a covered standing area directly behind the goal and two similar, but smaller, structures bookmarking either end of the dug outs.

There are two schools of thought as regards the history of Deeping Rangers, whereby some versions cite their year of foundation as 1964, while others state 1966.
The earlier date is the correct and the disparity arises from the fact that they were formed as a Sunday League side, who made the switch to Saturday football, two years after their initial foundation date.

In 1979 Rangers suffered a double blow when they were relegated to Division Two of the Peterborough League and also lost the use of the ground that they were using back then on Maxey Road. After finding a new home at the Deepings Leisure Centre, the club regained their top flight status at the first attempt and moved to their own ground, where they currently play, on Outgang Road, off of Towngate East, in 1985.
At the end of the 1998-99 season, they were promoted to the United Counties League Division One, from where they were promote to the Premier Division in 2001.

Today's visitors were Lincoln United, who play a division higher than Rangers, in the grand pecking order of football's recently reshuffled... and then re-reshuffled, pyramid infrastructure, plying their trade in the EvoStik Northern Premier League East Division, which looks stronger than ever next season... and even harder to get out of as a consequence, because the stakes are so high, both on and off the pitch.

And talking of pitches; United's coffers took a full on right hook to the chin last week, when their money spinning pre-season fixture against neighbours Lincoln City was postponed, because the Ashby Avenue playing surface is in the midst of an allergic reaction to the baking hot weather we've been having recently. Typically, on the night that the called off game would've been played, it pissed it down!

Deeping's Dan Schiavi got the game underway and Rangers flew at their visitors from the word go, forcing two early corners, that Schiavi took responsibility for; finding Billy Stubbs at the back post with a right wing delivery, which the hosts number 5 headed narrowly wide, off the upright, before picking out David Burton-Jones with a left wing flag kick, that the team captain directed just over the bar with a cushioned header.
'The (green shirted) Whites, were stung into life, but Rangers were very well organised at the back and limiting any threat posed by the opposition.

Until the eleventh minute that is, when Paul Grimes put on a burst of pace through the left channel and planted a sideways pass into the path of Kevin 'Big Kev' Hemagou, who'd timed his run well in tandem with Grimes, but as he pounced to put the ball past the advancing Rangers keeper Richard Stainsby, Hemagou was clattered into from behind by Stubbs... and the referee had no option but to blow up and point to the spot.

Grimes stepped forward and planted the resulting penalty kick into the bottom left hand corner of the net, beyond the reach of Stainsby, who had gone the right way, but was powerless to prevent United from going in front.

Rob Norris set up a half decent chance for Josh Nichol, who would have doubled Lincoln's lead, if he's kept his shot down instead of disturbing a startled pigeon, who was having an afternoon nap in the shade of the evergreen topiary, that stands neatly on the border of this well kept enclosure.

The visitors looked to wilt in the heat and lose their composure as the first half wore, but Deeping were still maintaining a high tempo, that must have been especially strength sapping on such a humid afternoon. 

Schiavi was pivotal to most things good about Rangers approach play and when he released Michael Simpson with a threaded ball through United's defence, only a brave save by Ben Tonks, preserved his side's slender lead.

Stainsby then had an 'anything you can do' moment at the other end, getting down well to field Matt Wilson's thumping downwards header from a well flighted cross by Norris out on the left flank.

But as the game swung from end to end, the equalising goal duly arrived, when Schiavi launched an hanging ball towards Burton-Jones, who spotted that Tonks had committed himself and nudged a looping header towards the far top corner of the net, to claim a well executed goal for himself.

I think Tonks would've been justified in asking if some of his teammates were still floating in the Mediterranean on an inflatable lilo at this particular moment in time, but that shouldn't take anything away from the quality of Burton-Jones finish.

You couldn't take your eyes off of the action for a moment... and though Rangers looked to be revelling in charging around in the heat, Lincoln are still obviously building towards their peak fitness in time to coincide with the new season. However, it was the occasionally lacklustre visitors who were almost gifted an opportunity to regain the lead, when Stainsby ran out to the right hand edge of his box and sliced a clearance into the path of Kallum Smith, who in an instant hooked a long range dipping shot towards the now unguarded Rangers net... but Stainsby atoned for his misdirected kick and raced back to pull of a save directly beneath his bar that Pat Jennings would've been proud of in his heyday.

That is of course the Patrick Jennings, who used to make a living selling vacuum cleaner and washing machine parts on Skegness Market at weekends, not the legendary former Northern Ireland keeper... but it was an impressive recovery nonetheless.

The home side finished the first half on the attack, while a few niggling fouls punctuated the end of the opening forty five minutes of play.

HT: Deeping Rangers 1 v Lincoln United 1

New Kids on the Block have let themselves go a bit

As the second half got underway, a fly who'd been on the wall in United's changing room, came over and asked me if I had a spare aspirin he could take for a headache... whatever had been said in there had certainly galvanised the visitors, who started the second half well and were back in front three minutes after the restart, when Grimes drilled the ball across the face of the Rangers goal from out on the left towards Nichol and Norris, the latter of who provided the decisive touch from close range.

Within moments of going behind, the home side were crowding around the Lincoln goal, like a swarm of bees who were angry with an errant child who'd been poking their nest with a shitty stick.

Schiavi was tripped, possibly only a few centimetres outside the 'Whites' penalty area.

His free kick was blocked by Michael Jacklin (that must have smarted) and ricocheted to Burton-Jones, who smashed the ball towards the visitors goal, but was thwarted by Tonks at full stretch, who  could only push it out towards Luke Anderson, who in turn whipped a curling effort round the keeper that crashed back off of the upright towards Charlie Coulson who spanked a rasping effort narrowly over the crossbar.

Rangers were still a goal behind, but could've been three ahead during this paragraph alone.

Joe Briers was getting forward well on the right in support of the Rangers attack and showing some neat touches to get out of tight situations. 

He won a corner, that Schiavi dropped delightfully into the mix and yet another 'all hands to the pumps' free for all ensued, with Jacklin making at least two blocks... and then as the ball dropped from a half cleared header, Billy Stubbs rose like a salmon, incorporated a Fosbury Flop and twist with triple pike in mid air, and launched himself into the most spectacular bicycle kicking motion that I have ever witnessed outside of Billy Smart's Circus, in all of my days... his movement and acrobatic prowess was a sublime spectacle.

And he would have had Brazilian TV audiences reminiscing about that 'agile lad from Market Deeping' for many a year, if only he'd have connected with the ball as well. 

I hope that the ground wasn't too hard when he hit the deck.

Despite their best efforts... and believe me, they bust a gut for their team's cause at times, this just wasn't going to be Rangers afternoon.

Grimes and Smith linked up well twice and tested the home sides substitute keeper with a shot apiece, before Lincoln added a third goal in the seventy fourth minute, when Hemagou used his strength to get up at the back post to reach a 'deeply dippy' right wing cross from Norris.

Jack Wilkinson came on for the last ten minutes, for Lincoln, setting up one chance and firing narrowly wide of the right hand upright with what was his first touch of the ball, but it was Jacklin who actually made sure that the victory would be Lincoln's, when he blocked shots from Burton-Jones and Jamie Kilbride in quick succession, before putting in a last ditch challenge to deny Schiavi from getting a shot in from just outside the six yard box.

Kilbride for his part had unselfishly run himself to a standstill all afternoon, linking up well in attack for Rangers, while offering a foil for his teammates with some good movement off the ball as well as on it. In fact, though they were ultimately defeated, Deeping impressed me a lot today, with their attack orientated play and sustained tempo.

FT: Deeping Rangers 1 v Lincoln United 3

OMG! I really hope he's going to stop :-O

I would imagine that Deeping Rangers might feel that they deserved more out of this friendly exchange, while, by the same token, a Lincoln United fan I spoke to thought that his side had been a 'bit jammy' to claim a win. 

Personally I wouldn't disagree with either viewpoint.

To date I've currently ticked off fourteen pre-season games and visited five grounds that I've never been to previously (towards my intended total of forty). 

I enjoyed today's game... and the good folk of Market Deeping and Lincoln, were all friendly, helpful and accommodating in extremes.

This humble scribe reckons that this is going to be a good season, especially if I keep on picking and ticking off new horizons to visit, like the ones I've already been to thus far this term. 

Bring it on! I'm chomping at the bit for the real stuff to start now.

The 'other' DRFC are at Deeping Rangers on Wednesday