Evo-Stik Northern Premier League
Saturday 17 November 2018

Stafford Rangers produced a solid display to pick up a point away to rapidly improving Lancaster City and they had to do it with 10 men after midfielder Andy Haworth was sent off shortly before half time.

After last week’s dismal exit from the FA Trophy, James Askey was recalled to the left back position while Haworth – cup tied for the Basford game – came in for Izak Reid. Apart from the incident that led to Haworth’s dismissal, there was little to talk about in the opening half. The two teams slogged away but found the respective opposition defences tough to break down.

What chances did happen came Rangers’ way. The best fell to Jack Sherratt on 28 mins when he was left unmarked from Theo Bailey-Jones’ corner, but his header lacked power and direction. Earlier, Haworth had got on the end of a ball down the inside right channel from Lewis Banks and flicked it past Jack Sims but also across the face of goal and wide of the far post.

Lancaster’s best chance came a couple of minutes after Sherratt’s miss but Charlie Russell fired high over from the edge of the area. Haworth’s dismissal in the 40th minute came after an off the ball clash with Simon Wills. The Lancaster born player took a harmless but petulant kick out at Wills, but the referee failed to spot the Lancaster captain’s provocative elbow.

Lancaster had a great chance on the hour when Russell flicked on Ryan Winder’s free kick and Andrai Jones had to head off the line.
Tom Kilifon sent another header across the face of the Stafford goal then put Winder through, but he hit the side netting after being forced wide by Adam Whitehouse.

Stafford were still a threat and Luke Jones headed wide at the back post from Josh Green’s free kick although it was an over hit back pass from Craig Stanley that gave Lancaster their greatest concern.  The home side pressed late on and Whitehouse saved well from Kilifin to ensure his side took a deserved share of the spoils.

Lancaster: 1 Jack Sims , 2 Rob Henry (12 Lewis Fensome 18m), 3 Cole Lonsdale, 4 Steve Williams, 5 Ben Hudson, 6 Craig Stanley (16 Charlie Bailey 77m), 7 Charlie Russell (15 Reece Webb-Foster 62m), 8 Simon Wills, 9 Ryan Winder, 10 Rob Wilson, 11 Rob Kilifin. Unused Subs 14 Paul Dugdale, 17 Glenn Steel
Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 James Askey, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Jack Sherratt, 6 Dan Burns, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones (17 Josh Green 77m), 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles, 10 Andrai Jones, 11 Andrew Haworth. Unused Subs 12 Harry Benns, 14 Ethan Stanton, 15 Sam Coulson, 16 Izak Reid

Cautions: Lonsdale (Lancaster), Sherratt, Burns (Rangers)
Sent Off: Haworth (Rangers)

Referee: Daniel Locker

Att: 276

Report by Chris Elsley

Buildbase FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round
Saturday 10 November 2018

Stafford’s four match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with a sorry exit from the FA Trophy at Basford United.
Rangers welcomed back Tom Thorley after a two match absence through injury were missing Joe Cuff (suspension) and Sam Coulson (family reasons) while Andy Haworth was cup tied.

The tie was more or less over inside 20 mins as the home side raced into a three goal lead. Zak Goodson opened the scoring after just 6 mins. A long ball from defence was flicked on by Nathan Watson for Courey Grantham to give chase. He got behind the Stafford defence and his shot on goal was steered in by Goodson.

Goodson added the second on 17 mins. Dan Burns lost possession midway inside the Stafford half, James Reid broke down the right, found Goodson and he calmly picked his spot to extend the lead. Two minutes later, a questionable free kick was awarded against Rangers but there was no doubt about the outcome as Kieran Fenton’s 25 yarder past the motionless Adam Whitehouse made it 3-0.

Slowly, Stafford came more to terms with the pacey 3G pitch but without creating too much. Luke Jones sent a header towards goal that was cleared by the combined efforts of Keiran Preston and Liam Bateman then Andrai Jones scuffed a shot wide after a poor clearance from keeper Preston. The closest Rangers came to scoring was a mishit clearance from Fenton that forced Preston to acrobatically head over his own bar.

Stafford looked more purposeful after the break and within a minute Izak Reid saw a shot land on top of the Basford net while Theo Bailey-Jones put two other chances wide. Jake Charles also went close when he turned one across the face of goal.
But Basford’s goal stayed intact and the game drifted towards its inevitable conclusion, interrupted only by Basford’s Liam Hearn who added his side’s fourth from the penalty spot in the first minute of added time after Lewis Banks had bundled Goodson to ground.

Basford: 1 Keiran Preston, 2 Liam Bateman, 3 Deon Meikle (15 Ciaran Keane 75m), 4 Jerry Nash, 5 Kieren Fenton, 6 Lewis Carr, 7 Jack Thomas, 8 Zak Goodson, 9 Nathan Watson, 10 Courey Grantham, 11 James Reid (14 Gregory Tempest 72m). Unused Subs 16 Niall Hylton, 17 Shick Ndong
Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 Ben Chilcott, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Dan Burns, 6 Jack Sherratt (16 Josh Green 64m), 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles (14 Ethan Stanton 72m), 10 Andrai Jones, 11 Izak Reid (15 Harry Benns 53m). Unused Subs 12 James Askey, 17 Morgan Bacon
Cautions: Fenton, J Reid (Basford); Burns (Rangers)

Referee: Jack Forder

Att: 246

Report by Chris Elsley