Pre-season game goes way of visitors Rangers from four divisions higher

Pre-Season Friendly: Chatteris Town 0 Soham Town Rangers 9

It was a Tuesday night (July 17) to forget for the Lilies as last they were well and truly put to the sword at West Street, writes Dan Mason.

Four divisions separate the two teams, and the gulf in standard proved as Soham produced a dominant display to match a scoring spree Town could not prevent.

Six goals in 22 first-half minutes thanks to Marcus Hall’s header, a James Skinner brace and a Sam Mulready hat-trick put the Greens firmly in control, leaving their hosts to ponder on what just went before them.

What was prevalent throughout the game was a regular surge of attacking play from Soham, as they looked to ruthlessly pounce on any open space or defensive errors from Town.

The visitors heaped further misery on their hosts by adding three goals after the break.

Substitute Ally Conway weaved his way into the Lilies penalty area before placing firmly into goalkeeper Ryan Rayner’s bottom-right corner, while Lee Chaffey converted some neat build-up play from close-range soon after.

Hall got his second on 83 minutes to hand Alex Kaufman his heaviest defeat as Lilies boss and some food for thought heading into the remaining friendlies.

Town had some notable absentees from their squad, including the influential Simon Howard, Chris Matthews and Josh Joyce, but they may not have been able to stop the quick thinking and dangerous probing the hosts suffered from.

Arguably the best chance of a home goal was when Kenny Jenkins fired a driven cross into the Soham penalty area, but failed to find a teammate, as Town searched for a swift counter-attack whenever they could.

Rayner played his part with some smart stops, in particular, denying Mulready a fourth before half-time and blocking an effort with his legs from threatening winger Callum Russell.

Lilies: Ryan Rayner (c), Jacob Butler, Matt Stratton, Gibson Kupfuma, Matt Wright, Matt Walshe, Jordan Finneran, Josh Dodman, Adam Bell, Ash Blanchflower, Kenny Jenkins.

Goals: Soham Town Rangers – Hall (18’ and 83’), Skinner (29’ and 30’), Mulready (36’, 38’ and 40’), Conway (57’), Chaffey (68’).

Used subs: Brandon Ransome, Tom Pascuzzi, Hussaine Waul.

Referee: Dean Bailey.