The Macleay Valley Rangers' equaliser in the final five minutes was cancelled out by a late strike which gave the Coffs City Tigers a 2-1 victory in the round three FFA Cup fixture on Saturday.
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The loss bundles the Rangers out of the cup and coach Chris Walker admits the side still has plenty to work on ahead of the season opener on April 7.
"We weren't too bad but there was a few teething problems with implementing a new formation and new players," Walker said.
"There were periods where we dominated, controlled possession and passed the ball around really well but also periods where we were dominated."
The end-to-end game was broken open close to the 30 minute mark when the Tigers open the scoring.
Rangers were unable to successfully clear their line after a free kick and the ball was cut back to an unmarked Tigers player, who found the back of the net.
The Rangers were able to level the score in the final minutes when George Gurney headed the ball past the Tigers keeper.
However, the celebrations were short lived as the Tigers grabbed the winner after a through ball put their striker one-on-one with the Rangers keeper John Clancy.
The Rangers won't participate in the Nambucca Cup this weekend.
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