Rangers hopeful of extended cup run
Southampton Rangers coach Marvin Belboda says he’s relieved to have finally seen the back of St George’s after defeating the East End club to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals.A brace from Vernon Perinchief helped Rangers secure victory over their Premier Division rivals at Southampton Oval last weekend. Allan Douglas Jr scored for Colts.Having played St George’s in three of their last five games, Belboda is happy his side won’t have to face Cymande Davis’s side again this season.“The main focus was to get across St George’s and we managed that. They are apparently our bogey team in the sense that we always have to play to the best of our ability to beat them. In our last five meetings there have been quite a few draws,” said Belboda.“It’s good to know that we don’t have to play them again this year. It seems that we have a hard time in breaking them down and they came out with a game plan on Sunday and for the most part stuck to it.“They went up and we just said at the break that we needed to play our own game and not focus on what they were doing.”Belboda hailed Perinchief for his performance, while ruing the fact that he hadn’t been able to constantly select the same side week in, week out.“Vernon has come a long way in the past few seasons. I coached him at PHC in the junior ranks and I’m pleased to see his progress.“He is different in the way he plays because he has a slow mentality when it comes to being on the ball, but he is also educated when he has the ball so it’s a pleasure to have him on our team.“He engineers our team and along with Janeiro Tucker he is the main cog in our engine room.“My main problem this season has not being able to pick the same team every week. When you look at Devonshire Cougars, they have the same side every game so they don’t need to make many adjustments.“Janeiro is going away for cricket but we will go into the next set of games confident and will be looking to make a run in the FA Cup.”Rangers will face Robin Hood in the FA Cup quarter-finals at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night at 9pm.Belboda once again expects a tough, physical encounter.“Robin Hood will a be tough as well and I’ve told the team that the second half of the season is different because your objectives come into focus. Some teams are playing for survival while others are pushing for the league title.“We can beat anyone and have beaten everyone this season apart from North Village and Cougars and we will head down the stretch looking to get results.”