A half-time ‘chat’ with his players led to Offwell Rangers player-boss Scott Phillips led to a remarkable recovery by his side who were eventually 5-4 winners of a thrilling contest at Alphington in a Fresha League Division Seven meeting.

In a see-saw match Brad Spiller scored early to put Rangers ahead, but it needed a Dan Spiller goal, his first of the season, to restore parity after the Alphas had scored twice. A third before the break gave the Exeter side a 3-2 half-time lead.

Phillips gave an interval chat to his team that let them know, in no uncertain terms, how poor they had been in the previous 45 minutes. He then saw his side fall further behind before making a triple substitution to try and ‘shake things up’.

The trick worked to perfection as the fresh legs and a change of formation paid dividends.

Craig Sluman slotted home to make it 4-3 and then an Ernie Stobbs corner was turned home by an Alphas defender to level things up.

Inside the last five minutes Rangers won a free-kick, delivered by Phillips onto the head of Ashley Trudgeon who steered the ball into the net to seal all three points.

Phillips said: “The first half show was woeful. It was comfortably our poorest of this and indeed any other season. That said the three changes I made worked a treat and that’s the way it’s got to be. Players have to accept that I am going to make decision which will not always sit well with them. However, everything I do is for the good of the football club which in turn is always going to be bigger than any single player. This win keeps our current good run going and helpfully we’ll continue our upward march.”

On Saturday Rangers host Elmore (2.15pm).