Whitby Town 1 – 2 Stafford Rangers

Apr 16, 2019 | Match Report

Evo-Stik Northern Premier LEAGUE | Saturday 13 April 2019

Stafford Rangers boosted their survival hopes with a deserved win away to Whitby Town. Rangers were first out of the blocks and made an ideal start when Tom Thorley fired them ahead inside two minutes after an exchange with Jack Sherratt. Whitby responded with a good run from Jassem Sukar but Dan Burns’ intervention was enough to force Bradley Fewster to shoot wide. But Stafford were in dominant mood and Jake Charles missed a couple of chances to add to the lead in a five minute spell.

Charles ran on to Sherratt’s through ball – beating the Whitby offisde trap – but lost momentum after he stalled his run and Adam McHugh was able to save. McHugh denied Charles again when he tipped his shot on to the inside of the far post and Lee Bullock cleared. Whitby never looked a threat but came close to an equaliser midway through the half when Andrai Jones’ header came back of his own crossbar following Dale Hopson’s corner. Matthew Tymon was first to the rebound but was unable to convert.

But Rangers stayed in control and Thorley missed out when the ball got stuck under his feet from Louis Briscoe’s left wing cross then Briscoe missed out with a tame shot at McHugh after a mix up in the Whitby defence. Briscoe made up for his miss when he doubled Stafford’s lead with a 25 yard free kick a minute in to added time at the end of the first half.

The first 20 minutes of the second half produced little of note but then Joe Cuff – on for Briscoe – went on a strong run, riding the foul challenge from Dan McWilliams but the end product saw his shot go a foot wide. Theo Bailey-Jones struck a free kick into the Whitby defensive wall then sent the rebound high out of the ground.

As full time drew nearer, Stafford looked to be cruising to victory. After Fewster’s earlier effort, it wasn’t until the 85th minute that Whitby produced their next shot on goal. Again it came from the no 9 and again it failed to threaten Adam Siviter’s goal.

But it did generate a bit of life into the home side and a minute later, they were back in it as Siviter could only parry Greg Rutherford’s shot and Fewster tapped in the rebound. It set up for a nervy, backs to the wall finish for Stafford but they held out to record their first win over Whitby at the 12th attempt.

Whitby Town: 1 Adam McHugh, 2 Connor Smith (14 Greg Rutherford 60m), 3 Jassem Sukar, 4 Kieran Weledji, 5 Lee Bullock (12 Dan McWilliams 60m), 6 Daniel Rowe, 7 Leon Scott, 8 Callum Patton, 9 Bradley Fewster, 10 Matthew Tymon (15 David McTiernan 72m), 11 Dale Hopson. Unused Subs: 16 Adam Gell, 17 Jack Norton (gk)

Stafford Rangers: 1 Adam Siviter, 2 Paul Bignot, 3 Matt Hill, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Dan Burns, 6 Jack Sherratt (16 Ben Mills 74m), 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles (17 Peter Williams 85m), 10 Andrai Jones, 11 Louis Briscoe (12 Joe Cuff 54m). Unused Subs: 14 Jed Davies, 15 Sim Thandi

Cautions: McWilliams (Whitby)

Referee: Timothy Craig

Att: 367

Report by Chris Elsley

South Shields match preview

Apr 16, 2019 | Club News

Thanks to our great win at Whitby, we can now look to the end of season with some pressure removed. Okay we are not mathematically safe, but to get relegated now would need some strange results from those around us. Fresh from losing out on a valuable point at top of the table Farsley, we now entertain the league’s second placed club, fresh in our minds that we took 4 points off Warrington last month. I am sure that might have an effect on South Shields as they travel to us hoping to avenge last season’s FA Trophy defeat. They will be happy to know that Massiah McDonald no longer plays for us, but we
need to avenge our 3-0 defeat in the North East last August.

It has become a somewhat anecdotal statement in that ex Northern League sides do not travel well. Well this season South Shields have lost on the road to Buxton, Grantham and Hednesford to name 3 of their 7 away defeats. (they are glad their defeat at North Ferriby no longer exists) They also lost out in the cup away at Stratford. So perhaps we can be yet another Midlands side to keep their travelling hoodoo ongoing.

If you look at the history of South Shields Football Club it reads like a soap opera, of a former football league team, moving grounds and even towns, yet they still retain the year 1888 in their crest as their formation year although the current side is somewhat younger than that. A major change in the national non-league set-up came in 1968 with the formation of the Northern Premier League, and South Shields beat us to become founder members. The club was a member for six reasonably successful years, without making any significant impact but came to a close in 1974 due to insufficient match attendances and the distance from the town centre area and the total loss of the club, the ground of Simonside Hill and all effects. Reformation quickly followed, and South Shields Mariners FC, was born, though competing in very different circumstances to its predecessors.

It had to overcome the immediate problem of starting with nothing, neither ground, committee, money, players, manager etc, and a league that would accept it of reasonable stature. The lack of a ground with adequate and sufficient facilities to satisfy the required criteria of the Northern League saw them compete in Northern Alliance League and the Wearside League. They acquired the former Filtrona FC and gradual upgrading and development of Filtrona Park saw
promotion to the First Division of the Northern League. Lease problems at Filrona Park saw yet another temporary move to Peterlee, 20 miles away. This exile from South Tyneside lasted for two seasons, and during that time, the club faced a real battle to survive, with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel.

In the summer of 2015, the club and subsequently bought Filtrona Park, which was renamed Mariners Park, and progression through the Northern League saw the bold move into the non league pyramid with promotion into the Northern Premier League Division 1 North, and then into the Premier League with National League football one of the goals earmarked. Perhaps we may be able to stem that move forward by denying them the automatic promotion route, but South Shields do sit
comfortable in the play off group.​ Please note that due to a darts tournament taking place in the Social Club, that car parking will be severely limited, so please make use of the streets in the Astonfields industrial estate.

Games played on 20th April this century.
2002 Cambridge City H 3-0 Southern Premier League.
2013 AFC Fylde A 1-0 Northern premier League.
2015 Leek Town – 1-0 Staffs Senior Cup Final at Port Vale​

Whitby Preview – Phil Bennett

Apr 11, 2019 | Club News

Whitby, the home of Captain Cook and very good fish and chips. Whitby is also the home of Count Dracula, so be warned as April 12th to 14th is the Goth festival, so with all the black and white make up, I doubt they are Rangers fans.

 

 

 

A brief history of Whitby FC sees that around the first world war Whitby was a town with two clubs, both playing in the Scarborough and District League The two clubs amalgamated in 1926 as Whitby United. The new club was admitted into the Northern League and the club’s name was changed to Whitby Town in 1949. In season 1996-97, Whitby won the Northern League and completed the double winning the FA Carlsberg Vase at Wembley, beating North Ferriby United by 3-0. Now in step 4, Whitby won the UniBond League First Division Championship at their first attempt to gain promotion to step 3, and they have now become a consistent Northern Premier League outfit.

 

Anyhow, back to football. Still trying to get the required points for safety we may have to do something that we have yet to do. That is to win away at Whitby. In 5 visits our best to date have been 2 draws, these being our last two visits, so let’s hope it is an improving run. This game included, all our visits bar one has been at the tail end of the season, games being played in April or May. Last season’s 0-0 draw was the only one to have taken place in the first half of the season. We therefore need to build on the 3-3 draw at home to Whitby on November 24. In that game we took an early lead only to be pegged back by two Whitby goals in a 5-minute spell. We equalised however within a minute. In the second half, Whitby edged ahead again only for us to equalise on 80 minutes.

 

Whitby currently lie 11th in the league with a home record of won 6, drawn 6 and lost 6, so parity must fail this Saturday, hoping the 7 goes on their lost column. For those traveling by car, the post code for the Turnbull ground is YO21 3 HZ, and you will find the ground high up on the north cliff area of town. I am sure if you had a powerful shot over the bar at one end it could land in the seas. For train travellers, you may as well forget it as Whitby is served by only 3 return journeys each day, and you must get to Middlesbrough to catch one. Or, you can do what many fans are doing this weekend and that is to make a weekend of it. Hopefully as well as coming home with 3 points we hope to have savoured the fish and chips that are on offer on the harbour side. You always know the quality of fish and chips on offer by the crowd of seas gulls that hover over you while eating. Have a good day, or weekend, as we build for that final push.

 

Games played on April 13th this century.

2002 Weymouth       A             1-0 Southern League
2009 Solihull              H            0-2 Conference North
2013 Blyth Spartans H            2-4 Northern Premier League

GRAND NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE

Apr 6, 2019 | Club News

A Grand National sweepstake was held in the Social Club on Saturday afternoon.

The results are as follows:

Winner Ben Johnson with Tiger Roll – wins £40

2nd place Paul Hayward with Magic of Light – wins £20

3rd place John Bromley with Rathvinden wins £15

4th place Ian Wilshaw with Walk in the Mill wins £5

Winnings can be collected from the office from Monday onwards

Thanks to all who took part

A GREAT DAY AT STAFFORD RANGERS

Apr 6, 2019 | Club News

With our game called off against North Ferriby the club suffered a financial loss due to no gate revenue, no sponsorship and no bar takings

However the blow was softened thanks to our great fanbase. Firstly the team trained on the pitch with Alex and Andy putting the players through their paces in an open training session. Next up was a penalty shootout between the supporters and the players. As was to be expected the players ‘bossed’ this competition with Louis Briscoe proving just how hard a football can be kicked and Andy Howarth showing off with a Rabona. Paul Hayward turned back the clock by donning the gloves and pulling off a few fine saves.

It was then the turn of the supporters who formed two sides to compete against each other. The orange side was ‘managed’ by Alex Meechan and the black and whites by Andy Fearn. The match was evenly contested with a final score of 5-5. Both managers got onto the score sheet with Alex netting a hat-trick. Penalties decided the competition with the orange team edging home. We should say at this time that the supporters each paid £10 for the thrill of playing on Marston Road’s hallowed turf. a big thank you to you all.

On then to the Social Club for an entertaining quiz organised by quizmaster Phil Bennett. After a re-count on the scores Peter Johnson’s team were declared the winners,

The Directors and staff would like to convey their thanks to all who contributed to a very enjoyable day. In particular a very big thank you to Shaun Reynolds for his fundraising throughout the week, to Phil Bennett for organising the quiz, Alex and Andy, and the entire squad for taking part in the football activities and to everyone else who turned up and either took part, helped out or just turned up.