No Rohaan Simons, no championship.

That just about sums up Southampton Rangers, whose already scant First Division title hopes received another setback with a 1-1 draw before a sparse gathering yesterday at Southampton Oval.

The draw was Rangers' second straight following the Christmas break -- they battled to a 1-1 deadlock with Devonshire Colts on Tuesday -- and in both matches were without their leading scorer.

Simons, who has now missed the past two games because of Regiment duties, has not only scored 12 of Rangers 22 league goals, he also has 15 overall to lead all First Division scorers.

With him, Rangers are one of the most dangerous teams in the league; without him, they're just ordinary, as they showed yesterday.

This was a game in which two touches of the ball were something to cheer about; three was just plain dumb luck. Forget about creating space; all the flat-footed Rangers did was create stress for coach John Tucker.

Tucker lit into the team at half-time and brought on a substitute for Simons' substitute, with Kwame Tucker replacing Dawud Tucker.

The move helped -- a little. Nine minutes after the restart, Rangers equalised, when Corey Simmons was given a free kick from 25 yards out. Instead of shooting, Simmons dished off five yards to his right and Herbie Dillas snaked a shot over 'keeper Stefan Dupres.

While Rangers dominated the second half, it was only towards the latter stages that they began to show some of the offensive fireworks they're capable of.

Kwame Tucker was twice set up, first by Dillas and then by Simmons, and Janeiro Tucker and Craig Darrell each came within an eyelash of scoring.

The arrival of former PHC star Sheridan Ming off the bench also helped.

Hotels, meanwhile, weren't exactly knocking on the door but what they lacked in shots on goal they made up for in good ideas.

Their best chance of the second half came when Craig Crichlow took advantage of a defensive miscue and forced Randy Darrell to reach way down and to his left in the 85th minute.

Neither goalkeeper was tested in the first 20 minutes and Rangers' Darrell didn't see his first real action until 26 minutes.

He stopped Dennis Robinson's blast and as Darrell got tangled up with his full back, Pernell Brangman, and another Hotels player near the far post, the rebound went to Crichlow. Crichlow's shot hit Brangman's hand and referee Anthony Mouchette whistled for the penalty, which Robinson easily converted.

Rangers: R.Darrell, E.Pitt, N.Grant (S.Ming, 79 mins.), R.Belboda, C.Darrell, C.Simmons, J.Tucker, J.Raynor, D.Tucker (K.Tucker, 45 mins.), H.Dillas, P.Brangman Hotels: S.Dupres, W.Augustus, C.Roberts, M.Bean, F.Francis, C.Sabir, D.Robinson, S.Gair, C.Crichlow, M.Holdipp, W.Crockwell Referee: Anthony Mouchette Men of the match: Corey Simmons (Rangers); Dennis Robinson (Hotels)