Stafford Rangers are up to a season’s high 8th place in the table after a strong performance against Basford United at Marston Road.
It was just what the team needed after Saturday’s disappointing FA Cup exit, but they had to do it the hard way after gifting the visitors a soft opener.

Basford went on the attack from the off and Louis Banks had to block a shot from Cieron Keane inside the opening 30 seconds.
A couple of minutes later and Rangers launched their first offensive of the game, Kyle Perry’s flick putting Theo Bailey-Jones in but Gregory Tempest got a foot in and Kieran Preston was able to collect.
Former Rangers keeper, Preston made a comfortable save down to his right after Perry had decided to try his luck from 30 yards out, then Louis Briscoe went high and wide following a period of Stafford pressure.
At the other end, Liam Hearn shot straight at Adam Whitehouse after exchanging passes with Liam Bateman but the experienced striker made no mistake on 17 mins when gifted the opportunity by an under hit back pass from Jack Sherratt and he advanced to put Basford in front.

Harry Benns went close to an instant reply as Preston had to go down to his left to save but the equaliser wasn’t long in coming.
A good ball from Harry Benns sent Bailey-Jones away but his first touch gave Jack Thomas the chance to nip and concede the corner.
Perry got his head to Briscoe’s flag kick ahead of Preston and Luke Jones was on hand to hook the ball home from close range (23 mins).

Two minutes later, Basford failed to deal with another Briscoe corner and after Perry and Benns had efforts blocked Sam Coulson rifled in to put Stafford ahead.

Rangers were now looking the stronger but Perry fired over then Tom Thorley’s well struck drive deflected wide off a visiting defender.
Basford weren’t without their own chances as Coulson denied Hearn but it was Rangers who had the final say of the opening 45 mins when Perry headed home yet another Briscoe corner to make it 3-1.
Perry was in the action again immediately after the interval, heading wide from a Briscoe free kick, then Preston made an excellent save to deny Perry from Sherratt’s square ball.

Basford defender Liam Bateman didn’t miss by much with a speculative 25 yarder but Rangers were asking the tougher questions. Some great play by Benns on the edge of the Basford area saw him get in a good shot that Preston couldn’t hold but there were no Rangers players around to take advantage. Soon after, Thorley headed straight at the Basford keeper.
Gradually, the visitors got themselves more into the game and Whitehouse saved well from Watson at his near post after Coulson had failed to cut out a cross from James Reid while Thorley got in a vital header to clear a Bateman centre before Coulson made a good block to halt Thomas.
Basford were enjoying their best spell of the game and Reid went wide after a bit of a scramble in the Rangers area.
Rangers held firm and pressed again but Perry fired wide. Soon after, Briscoe was denied by a timely tackle after good approach play from Harrison Holgate but Rangers had done enough to secure the points against one of the league’s high fliers.

Stafford Rangers:1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 Harrison Holgate, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Sam Coulson, 6 Jack Sherratt, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Kyle Perry, 10 Harry Benns (14 Josh Green 85m) , 11 Louis Briscoe (12 Izak Reid 82m). Unused Subs: 15 James Askey, 16 Tom Marshall, 17 Joe Cuff

Basford United: 1 Kieran Preston, 2 Liam Bateman, 3 Deon Meikle, 4 Matthew Thornhill, 5 Dominic Roma (14 James Reid 63m), 6 Gregory Tempest (16 Kole Lambert 46m), 7 Jack Thomas, 8 Kieren Fenton, 9 Nathan Watson, 10 Liam Hearn (12 Courey Grantham 74m), 11 Cieron Keane. Unused Subs: 15 Louis Carr, 17 Mohammed Zain Hakeem.
Cautions: None

Ref: Ollie Williams

Att : 411

Report: Chris Elsley

Emirates FA Cup – 2nd Qualifying Round
Saturday 22 September 2018

Stafford Rangers hopes of a good run in the FA Cup went out with a whimper as they were outplayed by manager less King’s Lynn. The home side made the perfect start with a goal in just the 3rd minute.

There looked to be no immediate danger as Ryan Hawkins chased the ball across field some 25-30 yards from the Stafford goal. He looked short of options and was running out of space, but he wrapped his foot around the ball and let fly with a super shot that beat Adam Whitehouse inside his left-hand post.

After such a dramatic start a quieter period followed with neither side creating too much. Lynn just about looking the most threatening.

Hawkins tried another from distance that sailed high over the bar then King’s Lynn won a hat-trick of corners in quick succession, the first coming after Hawkins’ header came off Harrison Holgate. Michael Clunan’s flag kick saw Rory McAuley come close, not once or twice, but three times in a scramble before Whitehouse punched clear. Soon after another shot from Hawkins was deflected out for a corner.

Rangers had a couple of moments when they looked like creating something, but they never gave Lynn keeper Alex Street much to do. In fact, the nearest they came in the first half was when Holgate’s free kick picked out Tom Thorley and McAuley was forced to head away for a corner.

The second half was a similar story as King’s Lynn dominated. McAuley headed across goal and wide from Clunan’s corner then Harry Limb tried a back flick that Whitehouse saved around his ankles.

Finally, Rangers produced a shot on goal but Jack Sherratt’s volley on the turn was well over. It was no surprise when King’s Lynn extended their lead on 65 minutes. A good move down the right saw Aaron Jones drill in a low centre which flew across goal before striking the helpless Harrison Holgate.

The tie was all over five minutes later when Clunan’s corner was headed home powerfully by Craig Parker whose run hadn’t been picked up.

Street was forced into his first save of the afternoon when he kept out a half volley from Theo then two minutes later Joe Cuff got on the end of a long clearance from Whitehouse to pull one back, but it was too late to save Rangers from defeat.

King’s Lynn Town: 1 Alex Street, 2 Aaron Jones, 3 Frazer Blake-Tracy, 4 Ryan Jarvis, 5 Ryan Fryatt (16 Kalern Thomas 82m), 6 Rory McAuley, 7 Michael Clunan, 8 Craig Parker, 9 Toby Hilliard (15 Michael Gash 53m), 10 Harry Limb, 11 Ryan Hawkins (12 Jordan Richards 68m). Unused Subs:14 Nathan Stewart, 17 Eion McQuaid, 18 Charlie Congreve

Stafford Rangers:1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Harrison Holgate, 3 James Askey, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Josh Green (14 Joe Cuff 54m), 6 Sam Coulson, 7 Lewis Banks (15 Kyle Perry 63m), 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Theo Bailey-Jones, 10 Harry Benns (12 Izak Reid 54m), 11 Jack Sherratt. Unused Subs:16 Tom Marshall, 17 Louis Briscoe, 18 Ossie Abadaki, 19 Lucas Burnett

Cautions: Clunan (King’s Lynn)

Ref: A Ellis

Att : 601

Report: Chris Elsley