We have no game this Tuesday as the League have allowed Warrington permission to postpone giving them every chance of beating Halifax in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup. As a result, our next game is our home game this Saturday with Hyde. So, while we have arrest for a week, Saturday’s opponents Hyde will have taken on South Shields at home on Tuesday night. That result if in Hyde’s favour will see them leapfrog us in the League table. As I write this, we are 14th with 17 points from our 14 games, whereas Hyde are 16th with 13 points from their 12 games. If you look at Hyde’s away games, they do not produce many goals. On their travels they have won 1-0 at Whitby, drawn 0-0 at Matlock and 1-1 at Witton and Nantwich. Their 2 defeats have both been 0-1 at the hands of Buxton and Grantham. So, I reckon we can expect a goal fest this Saturday.

In recent years like ourselves Hyde have experienced spells at step 1, 2, 3 and 4, so our paths have tended to miss. We have only played each other in 4 seasons since the turn of the century. 4 games in the Conference North giving us 2 victories in season 2005/6 but 2 defeats in season 2010/11 including a 5-0 Hyde victory at Marston Road. Four NPL games in season 2008/9 and 2009/10 saw us gain a win and a draw in the home games and a draw and defeat in the away games.

Hyde were formed in 1885 when they moved to their current ground, Ewen Fields in 1906 after merging with Hyde St George’s. Hyde’s nickname, the Tigers, was adopted at the end of the 1960s when they were founder members of the Northern Premier League. They fought like Tigers for two seasons and finished seventh and eleventh but returned to the Cheshire League in 1970. In 1981-82 they won election back to the NPL. In 1986, Hyde took the radical step of selling Ewen Fields to Tameside Council so that a synthetic Baspograss pitch could be laid. If I remember, this was an early artificial pitch and was very hard, not like todays. Possibly as a result grass was reinstated in 1995. They won the NPL title in 2004-05. In 2010, Hyde agreed a deal for Manchester City’s elite development squad to use Ewen Fields. The money secured the club’s immediate future but a decision to revert to the old name of Hyde FC, and to stop wearing red shirts, divided the fans. Hyde gained further promotion to the National League and finished 18th with notable scalps of Wrexham, Hereford United, Luton Town and Grimsby Town. Unfortunately, Hyde were unable to continue competing at such a high level and suffered several relegations which took them back to the NPL Division 1. Hyde secured funding from Tameside Council in March of 2016and the investment helped fund a programme to transform the ground and its connections with the local community by laying a 3G pitch, which was completed in July 2016. The 2017/18 season was one of the best seasons the club has experienced in recent years. The summer restructuring of Non-League football helped Hyde who were able to secure automatic promotion by finishing 3rd in the NPL Division 1 and not go through the painful play of format. So, after 2 seasons of being in the Division 1 North, Hyde now return to the Northern Premier top Division.

On paper, it looks like being a close encounter. Our injured players who were unable to play at North Ferriby will have no doubt made use of the fixture free midweek to come back into contention. So too will Jake Charles who has come off the bench and scoring a goal in each game. Steve Burr should have a full squad to pick from, so please come down and support the team as they hope to build on the fine away victory at North Ferriby and start to climb the league table again.

It happened on this date this century 20th October

2001 Folkstone home Southern League 1-2
2007 Crawley away Conference 1-1
1012 North Ferriby home Northern Prem 0-2

This Saturday, due to International fixtures is Non-league day. North Ferriby are looking to organise a 5 a side penalty shootout between their fans and our travelling fans. They are also offering, free entry for all Hull and East Riding school children and half price for accompanying adult. There is also free entry for every North Ferriby United Youth Team player and half price for their family and friends. There is however no mention of any deals that involve the travelling fans from Stafford.

We will be looking to exploit their apparent fragile home form which has seen them win one and draw 1 but lose 6. Having said that, their one win was a 3-0 win over South Shields and their draw was 2-2 with Grantham, so, even though North Ferriby lie bottom of the league we cannot take them lightly as we look to gain only our second away league win of the season. Going back to North Ferriby’s home defeat, they have lost to Whitby, Warrington, Scarborough, Witton, Matlock and Stalybridge, scoring 4 goals, but conceding 20 in those games. We are looking to get our first victory over North Ferriby, as our only previous encounters in seasons 2011/12 and 1012/13 have seen a home defeat and draw and an away draw and defeat.

Current league table shows
played Home away goals points
w d l w d l
Stafford Rangers 14th 13 3-2-2 1-0-5 -9 14
North Ferriby 22nd 14 1-1-6 0-2-4 -19 6

Rangers games played on this date, 12th October, this century.

2002 Rothwell home FA Cup 3rd Qualifying round won 3-0.
That season we lost at Shrewsbury.
2005 Kettering home FA Youth Cup lost 1-3
2013 Matlock home Northern Prem lost 1-3

North Ferriby United website HERE

Football is a funny old game one minute you’re up, the next you’re down and that has been the rangers lately.

We had a big win against Basford, then defeats to Bamber Bridge and Marine and then against top team Scarborough we were unlucky, 2 shots hit the post, one cleared off the line and again we made mistakes in defence. The new goalkeeper was a little hesitant at times and has not improved our defence but Steve’s working all the time to put things right.

As things are not going to plan just yet on the pitch, we can not say that about the Social Club and ground. The Social club is a popular venue and bookings are on the rise. The feedback from those using the function rooms is good. If you are thinking of booking a room we can provide the catering and the disco as well. Also don’t forget that we have special drinks offers on match days.

This week we have had 2 visits from officials, one was from the ground grading committee and we were delighted to receive a C grade for our ground. The Official remarked how much hard work had been put into tidying up the ground since he last visited 3 years ago. We also had a visit from Stoke City and the Premier league2 with a view to Stoke’s under 23’s playing some games at Marston Road, the official remarked what a lovely little venue this is. So it’s a big thank you to everyone who helped tidy up the ground, helped with the painting and to those who keep the pitch in good condition.

Last Saturday we gave out some awards, Harry Benns was voted player of the month by supporters, a fully deserved award. We also started our volunteer of the month award and Dan smith was presented with this award by Chairman John Bromley. Another fully deserved award. I would also like to thank Paul Downing for repairing our mowers at no cost; thanks also go to our sponsors from last week, Allet mowers, for giving us another large mower (superb).

Things are changing here at Marston road and at the beginning of next season we will be starting our academy team which we hope will eventually benefit the first team. Club representative Roy Sales will be co-ordinating this for us so if anyone would like to help with sponsoring this new venture then please get in touch with Roy at Stafford Rangers.

Let’s hope we had a bit more luck in the game on Tuesday night against Farsley and we gained 3 points. Steve and his management team are working hard trying to find the right mix of players but it takes time. Onwards and upwards.

The winning number on the 50/50 draw on Saturday was 7256 with a prize of £133. I would like to thank the winner for kindly donating a portion of this to the club.
The winners of the September lottery Draw are as follows.
1st prize no 1027 £500, 2nd prize no 116 £100, 3rd prize no 190 £50

Up The Boro
John