written by – Rangers Report    cover photo courtesy of RFC

Rangers had 24 shots & 19 were set-up with key passes (the pass that leads to a shot).

Player	Key Passes
Michael O’Halloran	3
Barrie McKay	3
Josh Windass	3
Martyn Waghorn	3
Andy Halliday	2
Lee Wallace	2
Harry Forrester	2
Lee Hodson	1

Here are the zones that label each part of the pitch (forgive me for the crude graphics…it’s not a strength):

The zones go from left to right towards the goal that the offense is targeting.   Each number is centralized in a zone of  two or two & half columns of grass.  The edges of the penalty box differentiate between the center of the pitch & the flanks.

42% of the key passes came from Zone 9 – evidence that Rangers were stretching the Annan defence.  Were these passes from a little further out creating more tempo in the attack?

24% came from Zone 17 –  so far in two matches this is the area of the pitch that has the most key passes.  Rangers are working the ball into the box & then moving it into the best available scoring area (Zones 19 & 22), or are getting the ball to an open teammate on the edge of the box (Zone 13).

16% came from Zone 12 

11% from Zone 15 – Zones 12 & 15 represent balls in from the wing.

5% from Zone 13 – with Annan so packed in defensively, it proved to be difficult to make that key pass from just outside the penalty box.  Passes from Zone 9 seemed to help Rangers free up some space & create more passing lanes…the closer the team got to the box, the more compact the defence could be.

5% from Zone 19 – this was a Michael O’Halloran pass to Lee Hodson who shot from Zone 17.

After two matches:  32% of Rangers key passes have come from Zone 17, 24% from Zone 9, & 12% from Zones 12 & 13.

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