Paul FurnissPAUL Furniss’ 83rd minute goal gave Stapenhill a dramatic late victory over Leicestershire Senior League title rivals Highfield Rangers at Gleneagles Avenue.
The hosts, managed by former Swans boss Tony Hemmings, including former Stapenhill keeper Wayne Smith, centre-back Neil Akers, midfielder Michael Wilson and striker Josh Williams in their starting XI.
In bright sunshine, Rangers had a decent start and after a spell of pressure, Andy Rogers fired just wide from the edge of the box.
The Swans responded immediately, with Matt Weightman crashing the ball against a post and Sam Taylor dragging the rebound wide.
Lucas Harrison’s attacking ambitions surfaced a minute later when the left-back saw his long-range effort drop just over the bar.
Lewis Campbell was prominent down the left, with a dangerous cross whipped in and it took a superbly timed tackle from Matthew Fooh to deny Weightman.
The striker then heaed over from a Taylor corner.
Keeping up the pressure, a huge goal kick from Ben Gough was headed on by Weightman, but his well-directed flick just evaded Taylor as he closed in.
Both teams were finding it difficult to string two passes together on a poor surface but the visitors went close on 20 minutes when Furniss released Campbell down the left and his inviting cross was pulled wide by Taylor.
Rangers fought back well and when a long ball forward from Axel Simmons glanced off Furniss’ head, Williams went one-on-one with Gough and an opening goal looked on the cards.
But Gough pulled off a terrific save, acrobatically twisting to tip the ball over.
Rangers went even closer moments later when Jamie Yeomans smashed a free kick against the underside of the bar with Gough beaten. The keeper did well to avoid the ball as it ricocheted down and almost went in off his body.
At the other end, Taylor missed another cross from the elusive Sippits and in injury time Weightman hit Taylor, who fed Campbell down the left before racing to the far post, only to see his close-range effort deflected for a corner.
On the restart, Harrison set off on another rampaging run before releasing Campbell, who saw his cross booted out for a corner.
The Swans stepped up a gear and Rangers were fortunate when a wicked corner driven in by Furniss was sliced over his own bar by Wilson.
A minute later, another corner from Furniss deserved better as it somehow flew unchecked across a crowded box.
On the hour, Weightman laid the ball back to Ben Kelly-Walley and his goalbound screamer, heading for the top corner, was superbly fingertipped over by Smith.
It was end-to-end now, with a draw of little value to either side, and a minute after Wilson had seen his goal ruled out for offside, Taylor suffered a similar fate at the other end.
Rangers kept going, with Yeomans sending Emmanuel Ndlovu clear, but his effort was never going to beat the in-form Gough.
It looked as if Rangers would break the deadlock on 80 minutes when Celson Patrocinio robbed Martin Davies and cut along the box, but he blazed well wide.
With time running out, Harrison continued to pose the biggest threat to Rangers, driving forward at every opportunity from left-back.
First, he set up Campbell, who saw his shot blocked by Akers.
Then after another surging run, he was scythed down on the edge of the box.
Furniss took the free kick and crashed the ball past Smtih with the aid of a slight deflection off the Rangers defensive wall.
