It was a disappointing afternoon for the Macleay Valley Rangers as they were handed a 5-2 defeat by Wallis Lake on home soil in their major semi-final today.
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Wallis were clinical in attack as they found the back of the net from three long range efforts, including a screamer from a deadball situation 25 metres from goal.
Wallis held a 3-0 advantage at the break and extended their lead to four before the Rangers began to find some form.
Rangers player-coach Chris Walker converted from the spot to reduce the deficit and a minute later Chad Applegate found the back of the net from a free kick on the edge of the box to give the home side a glimmer of hope.
However, that was dashed when Wallis Lake scored their fifth goal with 10-minutes remaining.
Walker conceded the Rangers were off the pace in the first half.
"We weren't at our best today," he said.
"We lacked a bit of tightness in defence and that was across the park as a unit.
"We had too many stray passes that went to Wallis and we made it hard for ourselves."
The Rangers will now face an elimination final next Saturday and despite a tough loss, Walker isn't about to push the panic button.
"We will come back next week and do what we have been doing all season, we just need to have more intensity from the start of the game," Walker said.
"We showed in the second half that we are still a competitive side and I think it was great to see us keep fighting despite going down by four goals. We still had belief that we could win from there."
Earlier in the day, the Rangers' reserve grade side earned a come from behind 2-1 victory over Port United.
Midfielder Jack Savaell found the back of the net twice after United opened the scoring inside the first five minutes.
Rangers' reserve grade side will face Wallis Lake next Saturday.
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