Despite suffering a 5-2 defeat to Devonshire Cougars in the Friendship Trophy semi-final on Thursday night, Southampton Rangers coach Marvin Belboda was full of praise for his side after they battled back after going down to ten men.It was Rangers’ second 5-2 loss to the same team this monthBut following their convincing win in the league on December 7, Cougars’ victory two nights ago was closer than the scoreline suggested as Rangers responded to the sending off of Callan Woolridge in the 51st minute by storming back to take the lead with two goals in four minutes midway through the half.Cougars then replied with four unanswered goals, including two late efforts by substitute Chae Brangman after Rangers pushed players forward and were caught on the break.“I can take a lot from last night, I saw that the guys can dig deep when they need to,” said Belboda who is in his first year as Rangers coach. “I really saw the character come out of my players when we went down to ten men.“To actually get an equaliser and the go-ahead goal, they showed a lot of fight but at the same time we were dealing with 40 minutes playing with ten men so it did take a toll on them.”Belboda said he took the blame for “rolling the dice” as Rangers were twice exposed when pushing for late goals to stay in the match. “I was trying to go for the winner and they got us on the break in the last five minutes with two goals when we were trying to push for the equaliser,” said the coach.“We had to go for broke and we came up short in the end but I couldn’t be upset because we were down to ten men and I saw the fight in my players. They definitely weren’t three goals better than us, but they beat us on the night. We defended pretty well for most of the game until we got the man sent off. I like the fact that the guys didn’t put their heads down. I’m sure we shocked Cougars and scared them for a couple of minutes.”Rangers have played four night games in the last month, losing 3-0 to Somerset on November 30 when a win would have taken them into first place in the Premier Division. They then they travelled to the Rec and were soundly beaten 5-2 before a recent trip to the same ground where they scored two late goals to beat St. George’s 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the Friendship.Rangers can now switch their attention to the league campaign which resumes next weekend with a visit to St. John’s Field to meet champions Dandy Town who they beat 1-0 in their season-opener at Southampton Oval.Rangers presently sit third in the league and are still very much in the title race.“I told the guys it doesn’t make sense putting our heads down, we are in third place in the league,” said Belboda. “We made it to the semi-finals of the Friendship so we can take a lot of positives out of that. Rangers don’t have a lot of guys at our disposal like a lot of other clubs.”Belboda singled out striker Dennis Russell and midfielder Vernon Perinchief as two players who played significant roles for the club in the first half of the season.“Dennis is my mainstay guy, a guy who can score goals and help the team at the same time,” said Belboda. “Vernon has done a good job for me in midfield and if I have to call on him to play right back he can play there also.“This is the team that was struggling against relegation last year. Now we are in third place and not fighting relegation. If we can win four or five games out of the next nine this would be a creditable season for me.“I give us a ‘B’ grade because I didn’t come here and think we would win the league in the first year. I came here with a two-year plan to get this team in contention to play with the big boys. We have a couple of young guys in the team who are being groomed now, so give us a couple of years and we’ll be something to talk about.”For now Belboda still rates Town as the team to beat and he tips them to beat Cougars in a close final on New Year’s Day by a 1-0 margin. He’ll be watching the match, scouting his opponents on January 6.“Beating Dandy Town was the highlight of our season so far because I personally think Dandy Town are the team to beat on this Island,” he said.