Deeping Rangers Claret 7 - 0 Barton Juniors (Deeping Scorers: Lake 3, McConnell, Romaine, Jackson, Adams)

Line-Up: Ben Burton, Ciaran Millen, Jack Martin (capt), Brandon Loveridge, Charlie Bamford, Nick Bliss, Ben Romaine, Nathan Jackson, Max Lake, Joe Waumsley, Kieron McConnell Subs: Ryan Baxter, Archie Adams (both used).

An outstanding performance by all of the boys today who all played a part in this 11 a-side Lincs Cup encounter.

From brave goal-keeping, strong defending, intelligent midfield interplay and composed finishing, every player was excellent and should be proud of himself. To their great credit Barton kept going to the very end before facing the long drive home - well done to them for their great humour and friendly nature.

Archie Race retires! After nearly five years of writing the Claret's match reports this will be the last one and what a game to end on! Archie is hanging up his typewriter and would like to thank all of his readers for their support over the years. 

Deeping Rangers Blue 3 - 2 Deeping Rangers Claret (Loveridge, Romaine)

The match was very keenly but fairly contested between these two teams. The Blues took the lead early in the first half when Harrison Dee smashed in a good shot from the left but the Clarets responded well and managed to prevent conceding any more goals while breaking forward when possible. In the second half the Clarets really took it to the Blues and were rewarded when the excellent Brandon Loveridge cooly slotted home to bring the score deservedly level. Ciaran Millen had a wicked long range shot brilliantly tipped over before a Ben Romaine corner was deflected into the net to put the Clarets 2-1 up.

Despite great work in defence/midfield by Jack Martin and Joe Waumsley (all of the team worked extremely hard in truth) the Blues managed to equalize somewhat, arguably, against the run of play before snatching the winner from a corner with only seconds remaining.

Well done to the Blues for their spirit to come back to win the game at the end. However, the passing and movement by the Clarets was really excellent today and the boys certainly did not look second best or deserve to lose.

Last Sunday, 14th October, I published an article following the earlier game between our U12 Blue and Claret teams entitled "Respect?..." I should have restricted myself to giving only an account of the exciting match but regretfully I also expressed personal opinions and subjective criticisms of individuals and sets of persons that should not have been published in the public domain - especially on this club's website.

I therefore wish to retract this article and express my sincere apologies to the club for any embarrassment caused and also to any persons who may have felt afronted or offended by its content.

Furthermore I would like to apologise to the Blues' Manager John Carver and their linesman Chris Dee who although neither were personally named in the article were referred to in a sentence that described how the Blues' Manager and Linesman carried out a "verbal volley" with the referee at the end of the match in the centre circle.  This phrase, partly intended as a pun, was nevertheless used naively as it implied that John and Chris had approached the official in a verbally aggressive or even perhaps abusive manner which was absolutely NOT the case and I regret its usage which was wholly misleading.

A replacement article, detailing the Blues v Clarets match will be published shortly. Thank you. 

Northern Star Blue 5 - 1 Deeping Rangers Claret (McConnell)

How do you begin to describe this match? After last week's first half capitulation against Glinton, Rangers started strongly against Star and deservedly took the lead when Max Lake set up Kieron McConnell to open the scoring. In fact Deeping dominated the first 20 minutes with Lake, probably Rangers best outfield player today, almost increasing the lead with a well-saved shot. Rangers were passing and moving superbly with Ben Romaine looking assured in midfield and Charlie Bamford and Ciaran Millen working hard to snub out home attacks. More chances followed, albeit from fairly long range, before the visitors were caught on the break twice to somehow find themselves 2-1 behind at half-time.

After last weeks fight-back the expectation was that Rangers would soon be back on terms, but instead they went to pieces, particularly defensively. At 2-1 down McConnell had a golden opportunity to equalize but took far too long to shoot with an empty net gaping and then Deeping were caught time and time again on the break, seemingly unable to tackle or track back or show any defensive grit. From dominating the first half and looking in control the Clarets were lucky in the end to only lose 5-1. Ben Burton had to make 3 or 4 superb saves as the Rangers defence seemed to throw in the towel...Star even cheekily back-heeled in the 5th. In the end too many players ducked out of challenges, turned backs and looked too lightweight.

Defender Nathan Jackson, who watched the game, is still out injured while Brandon Loveridge and Joe Waulmsley apparently both picked up knocks playing for their school teams this week. Nevertheless the Clarets should have had enough talent available to do better than this. That's 11 goals conceded in the last two games. Oh dear........!