Southampton Rangers 1

Flanagan’s Onions 1

Two teams fighting for their Premier Division lives showed exactly why they are struggling at the wrong end of the table in an uninspiring draw at Southampton Oval yesterday.

A result that did nothing to help either club in their respective battles to avoid relegation, the performance only highlighted why one, either, or both will be playing in the First Division next season.

Errant passing, desperate defending, and some lacklustre attacking football all combined in a tepid affair that means the league is likely to go down to the wire at both ends of the table.

Flanagan’s could yet influence the title race, given they play Dandy Town on the final day of the season, but a point adrift at the bottom and two points from safety, this was a game they needed to win.

Nathan Peskett, the Onions midfielder, gave his team the perfect start when he smashed in a free-kick from 20 yards that gave Corey Richardson, the Rangers goalkeeper, no chance.

There were suspicions that it might be Onions’ day when Jesse Seymour, with only Stephen Gould, the Flanagan’s goalkeeper, to beat, lobbed the ball over him and then watched it come back off the crossbar. The visitors continued to ride their luck, and Gould had to be at his sharpest to deny Khalil Symonds after the Rangers player caught the Onions defence napping.

Rangers finally drew level five minutes before half-time, when Shaki Swan collected Seymour’s quick pass from a corner, turned, and smashed the ball in off the crossbar.

With neither side wanting to make a mistake, the first 25 minutes of the second half was dominated by uninspiring risk-free football. That all changed in the 72nd minute when Onions burst into life and Richardson twice had to deny Keston Lewis, the Onions striker.

Mick Ward, the Onions player/coach, did his best to change things, emptying his substitutes bench in an attempt to win the game.

The move did not work, and instead it was Rangers who came closest to taking all three points. Ezekiel Stoneham got free behind the Onions defence and sent in a vicious shot that blazed across the face of goal, missing the target by the narrowest of margins.

It is a miss that may yet come back to haunt Rangers, who play Dandy Town next, and are far from safe with only a point separating them from St George’s, who are second bottom.