TWO late goals by defender Ben Palmer gave St Francis Rangers sweet revenge over Ringmer for two defeats by the same scoreline earlier in their debut season in County League Division 1.
Palmer doubled his season's tally in dramatic style and it gave the hosts no more than they deserved – a 2-1 home win in their final game of the season.
It was only their fifth success in 18 games but the effort, team spirit and good football over t
he whole season made it a highly encouraging start for a club who have made rapid headway since the amalgamation of St Francis and Ansty Rangers in 2002.
Jack Johnson put Ringmer ahead early in the second half but after that Rangers started to have more of the play and Forward had an effort ruled out for offside. Also Ben Palmer started to push forward and was just wide with a well struck effort before almost immediately fellow defender Dan O'Farrell should have scored from close range when he got on the end of a Maynard free kick.
On a rare excursion upfield Gedling tested Simon Lehkyj with a strong shot which was well saved but further pressure from Rangers brought them three Maynard free kicks in quick succession and it proved third time lucky on 80 minutes when Palmer came sliding in from the right to squeeze the cross over the line.
Ringmer immediately pulled another smart save from Lehkyj but it was his opposite number, 20-year-old Joe Adams, who was to have a big influence on the final result. With 88 minutes played Adams went up for a corner but was caught out as Maynard and Forward engineered a swift break and with Palmer anticipating the situation, he was there to convert the cross.
Full report and more pictures in this week's Mid Sussex Times.
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