Missed penalty costs Greens

SOHAM Town Rangers suffered their first defeat of the new season at the hands of Barton Rovers on Tuesday night.

SOHAM Town Rangers suffered their first defeat of the new season at the hands of Barton Rovers on Tuesday night.

The Greens had beaten Barton in their four previous meetings coming into the match but their winning streak was finally brought to an end as they went down to a first half strike from Colm Kierons.

The loss sees Ian Benjamin’s men slip to 17th place in the newly named Zameretto Division One Central with just a point gained from two matches.

Soham’s Shawn Richards looked odds on to open the scoring in the opening minutes of the match as he broke through the Barton defence only for a defender to haul him down. Much to the ire of the Green’s bench however, the referee waved the decision away.

Despite controlling much of the play in the ensuing minutes, the Greens eventually fell behind with 36 minutes on the clock as Kierons fired home.

Tom Benjamin spurned a good chance to level the scores shortly after half-time but the chance of the half was gifted to Richards minutes later after the referee awarded Soham a penalty for an adjudged handball in the area.

The wide-man lost his cool from 12 yards however, and fired wide.

Soham continued to threaten in the latter stages of the game but were unable to create a crucial clear-cut chance as Barton closed out the match.

The Greens travel to high-flyers Marlow on Saturday in a bid to register their first win of the season.