Club News

Feb 26, 2018 | Club News

Last week we had a visit from an inspirational young lad called Callum Homer, Callum has Autism and to film a video in celebration of Callum winning an NHS personal achievement award for loosing over 6 stone and addressing some of the behaviours that caused him problems in school.

Callum loves all sport but especially football, he refers to SRFC as his beloved local team!
Last year he came to look around the club and then went to a few matches accompanied by his Dad.

Through sport Callum has been challenged by his support at Aspire and this is how he’s achieved.

Callum came to the club last week with his friends and support from Aspire followed by a film crew to film his video to be put on the NHS website our Chairman, John Bromley presented Callum with a signed ball which he was over the moon with. Only four of these films across the country have been made.
We will be able to update when the video has been produced.
Well Done Callum!!!

 

Stafford Rangers 2 – 0 Stalybridge Celtic

Feb 25, 2018 | Club News

Evo-Stik Northern Premier League

Saturday 24 February 2018

A super strike from Kieren Westwood was the highlight of an entertaining afternoon as Rangers marked their 3,000th post war league game with a welcome win in front of their own fans.

An unchanged Rangers kicked off in the same positive manner that had seen them beat Rushall on Tuesday. Rangers were more or less in control from the off and took the lead in the 17th minute when Izak Reid was put through with an excellent ball from Massiah McDonald.

Reid still had plenty to do as he held off two Stalybridge defenders before hammering his shot into the roof of the net. Stalybridge had missed out on a good chance of their own a few minutes earlier when Stafford Rangers failed to deal with a Connor Hughes cross but Matty Wolfenden’s shot was blocked by Kieran Morris.

Despite holding the advantage Rangers were unable to add to their tally as Morris headed over and Danny Morton nipped in to deny McDonald.

Stalybridge’s Hughes who bagged both goals when his side beat the Boro a couple of weeks ago, forced a save from Adam Whitehouse with a first time shot from around 25 yards as Rangers deservedly took their lead into the half time break.

The home side stayed on top at the start of the second half as Jack Walton saved at close range from McDonald. Then, in the 53rd minute, came a contender for goal of the season. Kieren Westwood did well to cut out a crossfield ball then advanced before unleashing a 30 yarder that went in via the underside of the bar.

The trio of Hughes, Wolfenden and Liam Dickinson all went close to reducing the arrears but all were just off target while, at the other end, Robert Thompson-Brown was unlucky to see the ball run away from him after good approach play from the Boro but Rangers were comfortable and recorded back to back league wins for the first time since October.

Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Dan Vann, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Kieran Morris, 5 Jordaan Brown, 6 Josh Craddock, 7 Izak Reid, 8 Levi Reid, 9 Kyle Perry, 10 Robert Thompson-Brown (12 Jack Sherratt 87m), 11 Massiah McDonald (14 Joe Thomas 90+3m). Unused subs 15 Dan Westwood, 16 Sam Griffiths, 17 Brad Caswell

Stalybridge: 1 Jack Walton, 2 Danny Morton, 3 Alex Honeyball, 4 Tom Brown (14 Oliver Roberts 60m), 5 Luke Ashworth, 6 Ross Killock (16 Harrison Holgate 83m), 7 Jake Charles (12 Oliver Crowley 54m), 8 Greg Wilkinson, 9 Liam Dickinson, 10 Matthew Wolfenden, 11 Connor Hughes. Unused subs: 15 Josh Ramsden, 17 Aiden Winterbottom.

Cautions: Brown (Rangers), Brown, Dickinson (Stalybridge)

Ref: Mark Howes

Att 426

Report: Chris Elsley

Your Football Club Needs You!!

Feb 22, 2018 | Club News

Its about to get tough on your wallet, but your football club needs you now, more than ever.

Between now and the end of March we play 9 games of which 7 are at home. Two of those games are cup ties and if successful we may find more games added to this congested period. First game on the horizon is this coming Saturday 24th at 3pm. This is the famous “old firm” derby. Not the big Scottish one, but a more important Rangers v Celtic game as we entertain Stalybridge. It has been some time since these sides have met at Marston Road, but historically, this was always a big fixture in the Cheshire League days. Saturdays encounter has quite a lot at stake, as we embark on yet another thrilling 6 pointer encounter, hoping to build on the Tuesday night win at Rushall.

Stalybridge lie 9 points behind us but they have 4 games in hand on us and we will be looking to avenge our 2-0 defeat at the start of this month at a bitterly cold Bower Fold evening. Added spice comes into play as Stalybridge are managed by Steve Burr, a fans favourite here when he scored goals for fun in his spell with Stafford Rangers. It all gears up for a thrilling encounter so please come on down and cheer the lads on. Our match sponsors for the game are Hayley Smith and her guests, and we thank them for their support.

Hot on the tails of Saturday’s games sees us at home again in the Staffs Senior Cup when we entertain Kidsgrove, Tuesday 7:45 pm kick off. While Kidsgove lie in the bottom half of the NPL Division 1 South, they do have a few ex Rangers players in their squad and they do have the knack of knocking us out of cup competitions, so your support again is valued. The winners of the tie progress into the semi finals and will be at home to Wolverhampton Sporting Community, a former club of our striker Dan Westwood. Remember that this years final is being held on Stoke City’s ground.

Rushall Olympic 1 – 2 Stafford Rangers

Feb 21, 2018 | Club News

Evo-Stik Northern Premier League

Tuesday 20 February 2018

Stafford Rangers finally laid one of their bogey teams to rest on Tuesday night by beating Rushall Olympic in a league game. It was the 10th time that the two sides had met in league action and though Rangers had a good record against the Pics in cup ties, they had lost seven of the previous nine encounters in the Northern Premier League. Rangers had Robert Thompson-Brown back after suspension and also recalled Levi Reid to the starting line up with Jack Sherratt and Joe Thomas dropping to the bench.

The game got off to a scrappy start with players losing their footing frequently. After a couple of half chances at either end it was Boro captain Josh Craddock who had the first meaningful effort on goal when he fired over from around 15 yards after a scuffed shot from Levi Reid. Andre Landell did well to get in a shot on the turn following a Josh Webb free kick but Adam Whitehouse was able to claim the ball just inside his near post.

Stafford’s Thompson-Brown and Rushall’s Joshua Sermento both had shots deflected for corners while Jordaan Brown had to act to prevent Daniel Dubidat closing in on goal but neither keeper was being really tested. Then, Kyle Perry played Izak Reid in behind the defence but Rushall keeper Joe Slinn – on loan from Port Vale – came off his line quickly to block.

In the final minute, Rushall had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when Josh Hawker’s free kick picked out Simeon Maye but his outstretched foot could only steer the ball through to Whitehouse. It was an expensive miss as Rangers countered immediately on the right and when the ball fell kindly to Izak Reid, he made no mistake in firing past Slinn from around 12 yards.

The lead was nearly thrown away early in the second half when a poor back pass from Josh Craddock nearly put Dubidat in but Whitehouse was alert to the danger and raced off his line to clear. Seconds later, Dubidat headed over. At the other end, Slinn made a good block to deny Massiah McDonald who had been played in by Thompson-Brown.

Sherratt – on for the injured Craddock – was causing Rushall problems in midfield and forced an error from Hawker but McDonald was unable to take advantage. Midway through the second half, Rushall got back on level terms. A soft free kick conceded on the Rangers left saw Hawker’s in swinging kick met by the glancing header of Maye, beating Whitehouse to his left.

But Rangers were soon back in front. On 71 mins, Sherratt won possession just inside the Rushall half, McDonald flicked on and Perry drove home from the just inside the area for his first goal since rejoining the club. Izak Reid almost added a third a couple of minutes later but Slinn turned it around the post for a corner. Rangers looked largely in control although Maye wasted a great chance to level when he got behind Kieren Westwood only to pop a tame shot into the arms of Whitehouse.

Rushall: 1 Joe Slinn, 2 Joshua Webb, 3 Brian Smikle, 4 Simeon Maye, 5 Joe Hull, 6 Sam Whittall, 7 Joshua Sermento (14 Gurjit Singh 58m), 8 Joshua Hawker, 9 Daniel Dubidat (17 Lewis Archer 65m), 10 Andre Landell (15 Jordan Sangha 65m), 11 Daniel Waldron. Unused Subs 12 AJ Adelekan, 16 Mathis Fonovich

Rangers: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Dan Vann, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Kieran Morris, 5 Jordaan Brown, 6 Josh Craddock (12 Jack Sherratt 56m), 7 Izak Reid, 8 Levi Reid, 9 Kyle Perry, 10 Robert Thompson-Brown, 11 Massiah McDonald (17 Sam Griffiths 90+3m). Unused Subs 14 Joe Thomas, 15 Dan Westwood, 16 Richard Platt

Cautions: Hawker (Rushall)

Ref: Darren Wilding

Att 266

Report: Chris Elsley