RANGERS READY FOR FRESH NEW CHALLENGE
RISBOROUGH Rangers boss Mark Eaton heaped praise on his history makers for winning promotion to Step 4 – and reckons the destination of the title is a flip of coin.
His side are locked in a fierce race with New Salamis to win the Spartan South Midland League Premier championship.
Ahead of the weekend the pair were on the same points, albeit with Risborough boasting a game in hand.
It could even go down to the last kick when the duo meet for a final day showdown.
“It’s more like a cup final,” said the former Hemel Hempstead boss.
“They have reeled us in a bit as we’ve had a couple of draws where, probably, we should have won.
“I have never been involved in anything like that. I’ve been in FA Cup first round games, but this will certainly be a momentous game.
“It’s probably going to come down to who can hold their nerve. At the end of the day, whichever team wins the game will deserve it.”
Eaton has overseen a remarkable turnaround at the helm. When he joined in 2018 the club were struggling in the Hertfordshire County Senior League.
However, in just four years, the club are getting ready to enter all new territory.
This was Rangers’ debut season at Step 5 and, after sealing promotion last Saturday with a 3-0 win over Leverstock Green, they are now set to ply their trade in Step 4 for the first time too.
Eaton acknowledged that they’ve got to bridge a big gap next season.
“There is no question that there is a bit of a jump when you go to Step 4,” he said.
“Realistically it is going to be a bit more difficult next year, to bounce from two promotions in two seasons is an incredible achievement but also sometimes can give you a bit of momentum.
“We’ve showed this year that we’re ready for it and I think we’ll definitely compete.”
Whilst promotion has been earned and the title in their grasp, there have been other landmarks ticked off, including a 67-league game unbeaten run which spanned from the 2018-2019 season until January this year. That is three games shy of topping Celtic’s 69-match unbeaten domestic record set in the 2016-17 season.
Eaton admitted they didn’t place much emphasis on the milestone but believes it shows the quality in the squad.
“It was the mentality of the players,” he said. “The unbeaten record was never a consideration to us we have always just had it as one game at a time, we got to 46 games, and we never realised we had an unbeaten record of that magnitude.
“The important thing was to try and be competitive in every game we could.”