RANGERS travelled to West Midland Premier Division Lye Town on Wednesday evening (November 7) for their first ever venture into the Smedley Crooke Charity Cup, which is seeded in the first round to allow the more senior sides to progress.

LYE TOWN 2, MALVERN RANGERS 0

Rangers were very much on the defensive in the first half against their higher-graded opponents and were indebted to keeper Carl Preece who was giving his best performance to date. He was ably supported by central defensive pairing Sean Lunch and Mark White.

Rangers were rarely able to put pressure on the home defence although their best move of the first half resulted in a rather tame finish by Chris Davis. Rangers held out until the 29th minute before Lye scored, Rob Perrins was penalised on or around the half way line for backing in and when the free kick was pumped into the penalty area the big tall central defender headed home into the corner.

Just one minute later and Lye were awarded a penalty, a shot struck Mark White and even the home supporters were sympathetic to Rangers' cause. Justice was however seen when Carl Preece made a superb full length save.

Rangers came out for the second half with renewed determination to wipe out the deficit and felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the sixth minute for a push on Richard Forde in the area.

Lye increased their advantage after 22 minutes when a long free kick pumped into the penalty area was flicked on and the ball went in to the net off the post.

Rangers had a number of chances after this, Richard Forde shot narrowly wide, Simon Rea forced a good save, Cyril Dowling had a long range shot go wide and just two minutes later a tremendous shot from Mark Owen brought another good save. Just two minutes before the end of normal play and following a good move Phil Llewellyn shot wide when well placed.

Man of the match was Carl Preece.

Rangers resume league action at last on November 17 when they entertain Bridgnorth Town Reserves in a West Midlands League Division One South fixture at Victoria Playing Fields, kick off 2.15pm. Players to meet at the ground 1pm.

Rangers, sponsored by Willie Thorne Snooker Club, have been drawn away to Droitwich Spa in the quarter final of the WFA Junior Cup on November 24.