Stafford Rangers 0 Scarborough Athletic 1

Oct 11, 2021 | Match Report

The Pitching In Northern Premier League
Saturday 9 October 2021

Stafford Rangers’ roller coaster season continued Saturday as they went down to Scarborough Athletic by a single goal. Rangers, who are yet to record consecutive victories this season, were without the injured Jon Moran giving Ethan Stewart the opportunity to make his debut following his arrival from Alfreton Town. The Boro had an early scare when Joe Kenton landed awkwardly after an aerial challenge with Ashley Jackson, but the clubs’ current top scorer was able to continue after treatment.

Rangers had several opportunities to use the danger weapon of Tom Tonks’ long throw but, all too often, it proved easy pickings for Scarborough’ Ryan Whitley. On one occasion when it did not reach the 6’4” keeper, Jake Charles tried an overhead kick, but Whitley was able to make a comfortable save.

Scarborough’s first real threat opportunity came after a run out of defence from Kieran Glynn, but Maloney’s shot skied over. Play quickly switched to the opposite end of the field and saw Luca Navarro create a good opening when he cut in from the left, but his shot could only find Whitley.

A tightly contested first half, it was Rangers who looked the most likely to break the deadlock and they should have done so when Alex-Ray Harvey pounced on a poor back pass from James Cadman, but the Rangers’ captain shot wide with just the keeper to beat.

Navarro went close again after turning Maloney, but Scarborough always posed a threat and Nathan Cartman was inches away from converting Cadman’s first time cross before putting another effort straight at Luke Pilling. In the latter stages of the half, Charles controlled well before shooting for goal. James O’Neill’s intervention could easily have diverted the ball past Whitley – instead, it went the wrong side of the post.

There were few chances created at either end in the early stages of the second half but gradually Scarborough began to pose a greater threat. A good crossfield ball from Cartman saw Cadman shoot straight at Pilling who also saved from Jacob Day after Maloney’s pass had put him through.

The breakthrough finally came on 70 minutes with a good move on the Scarborough right as Cadman linked with Josh Barrett. He squared for Cartman to slot home from around six yards out. Rangers searched for the equaliser with O’Neill and substitute Joe Cuff both denied by Whitley but the frustrations among the fans was clearly audible as Tonks’ throws were swallowed up by the Scarborough keeper.

Stafford Rangers: 13 Luke Pilling, 2 Andrew Burns, 3 Ben Woods, 4 Alex-Ray Harvey (15 Omotolani Omotola 71m), 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 James O’Neill, 7 Joe Kenton (12 Theo Bailey-Jones 46m), 8 Tom Tonks, 9 Jake Charles, 10 Alex Fletcher, 11 Luca Navarro (17 Joe Cuff 57m). Unused Subs: 14 Josh Endall, 16 Max McCarthy

Scarborough Athletic: 1 Ryan Whitley, 2 Josh Barrett, 3 Ashley Jackson, 4 Lewis Maloney, 5 Kieran Weledji, 6 Dylan Cogill, 7 James Cadman (12 Theo Hudson 90+3m), 8 Ryan Watson, 9 Nathan Cartman, 10 Jacob Day, 11 Kieran Glynn. Unused Subs 13 Michael Ingham (gk), 14 Michael Coulson, 15 Simon Heslop, 16 Nicholas Hutton

Cautions: Sweeney (Rangers), Cartman (Scarborough)

Referee: Richard Eley

Att: 690

Report: Chris Elsley

Lancaster City 0 Stafford Rangers 2

Oct 6, 2021 | Match Report

The PitchingIn Northern Premier League
Tuesday 5 October 2021

Stafford Rangers bounced back from a run of below par performances with a solid display to bring all three points back from Lancaster City.

Goals from Jon Moran and Joe Kenton – either side of half time – both came against the run of play at a time when Lancaster were putting on the pressure and the home side were left to rue a number of missed chances, particularly in the first period.

Matty Hill made one change from the side beaten at Stalybridge on Saturday with Luca Navarro returning to the starting line-up. Josh Endall dropped to the bench with Ben Woods dropping back.

Rangers made a bright start with Jake Charles going close. He did well to turn his man but saw his shot blocked by Andy Teague and wide for a corner. Lancaster then created a series of good chances. Robert Wilson’s corner came off a couple of players before Lewis Fensome got his header in, but Luke Pilling made the save. A couple of minutes later, Moran made a vital intervention to clear from Teague.

Another opportunity was wasted when Niall Cowperthwaite attached Wilson’s free kick but headed over. But Rangers withstood the pressure and stunned the home side on 23 minutes when they took the lead – Jon Moran’s back header beating Matty Alexander following a long throw from Tom Tonks. Woods had to clear from Paul Dawson as Lancaster had a chance to level within a minute and, shortly after, a diving header from Christian Sloan went wide. Lancaster were troubled by Tonks’ throws and another on the half hour gave James O’Neill half a chance but he hooked his volley high over the bar.

The home side probably felt hard done by to be behind at the break, but they only had themselves to blame as they wasted a golden opportunity four minutes before the interval. Moran and O’Neill got caught out allowing Wilson to go clear but Pilling made a crucial block with his feet.

Both sides had chances early in the second half as O’Neill headed wide for Stafford while Rhys Turner threatened to unlock the Boro defence until Tonks stepped in. After a fairly even opening, Lancaster made a couple of substitutions which gave them a fresh impetus although the better chances fell to Rangers, notably when both Kenton and Charles had close range efforts blocked.

Moran picked up a caution when he brought down Turner midway inside the Stafford half as the Lancaster man threatened to go clear. Dawson wasted a good opportunity with a poor free kick which went high over the bar. A Dawson header went wide and more excellent defending from Woods dispossessed Tom Kilifin kept out Lancaster before Pilling parried a shot from Jacob Holland-Wilkinson. But, again, Rangers struck when they needed it most and Kenton stabbed home their second goal of the night on 77 minutes after Navarro’s corner had bounced off a couple of home players. The second goal killed off the Lancaster challenge as they never looked like getting back into the game and Rangers saw out time to record a much-needed victory.

Lancaster City: 1 Matty Alexander, 2 Lewis Fensome, 3 Liam Brockbank, 4 Niall Cowperthwaite, 5 Andy Teague, 6 Glenn Steel, 7 Christian Sloan (16 Tom Kilifin 57m), 8 Simon Wills, 9 Rhys Turner, 10 Paul Dawson, 11 Robert Wilson (17 Jacob Holland-Wilkinson 57m). Unused Subs 12 Sam Bailey, 14 Ben Hudson, 15 Ben Anderson

Stafford Rangers: 13 Luke Pilling, 2 Andrew Burns, 3 Ben Woods, 4 Alex-Ray Harvey, 5 Jon Moran, 6 James O’Neill, 7 Joe Kenton (15 Tom Carr 90+4m), 8 Tom Tonks, 9 Jake Charles, 10 Alex Fletcher, 11 Luca Navarro (12 Tyrone Ofori 90+1m). Unused Subs: 14 Josh Endall, 16 Ethan Stewart – only four subs named.

Cautions: Brockbank, Cowperthwaite, Wills, Dawson (Lancaster); Pilling, Moran, Belford (Rangers)
Referee: Nathaniel Cox
Att: 226

Report: Chris Elsley