Rangers receive reward for hard work in first victory of Coastal League One Women’s campaign

Relieved – that’s how Macleay Valley Rangers felt after registering their first Coastal League One Women’s victory on Saturday.

A 4-0 win over Sawtell represented a 10-goal turnaround after Rangers were humbled 6-0 by Urunga the week before.

Emma Tamblyn and Alyce Morn both found the back of the net twice each as MVR finally found a way to convert their chances into goals.

There’s been some highlights and lowlights for them so far in their inaugural CLOW campaign, but captain Heidi Tamblyn was thrilled at the response she received from her girls.

“The weekend was a culmination of all the positive things we’ve seen so far this season and it all came together really nicely and we got the win which is good,” she said.

It was a pleasing result for a team that would have been forgiven for starting to think the CLOW competition was all too hard.

They continued to hang in there and stick by each other in the face of adversity.

“It was a pat on the back after all the effort and persistence,” Tamblyn said.

Rangers will now have a fortnight to revel in their victory although their next challenge will represent a step up on what they have achieved so far this season.

They don’t play for two weeks due to a bye which is then followed by the June long weekend.

The captain has already pencilled in some thoughts and ways to keep her team focused.

“We need to make sure that our training sessions are really upholding a game-level intensity and we need to stay fit,” she said.

“That’s going to be the hardest thing for us – to go from not having that two weeks of match intensity, to then backing up and playing a game after a couple of weeks off. That is always tough.

“But given everything we’ve already been through this season, if there was a team that can do it, it would be us.”

Tamblyn has already pencilled in a return date later in the season with Urunga as an opportunity to see how much progress Rangers have really made.

“By the time we see Urunga again I’m really hoping that we can take everything that’s been happening – including the result from the last game against them – and really test them,” she said.