Lancaster City 2 Stafford Rangers 1

Aug 18, 2019 | Match Report

Saturday 17th August 2019

Report by Alan Gee

Rangers came unstuck in their BetVictor NPL opener as they paid for not matching their hosts’ early exuberance. Being 2-0 down before half time, Evan Garnett’s debut goal was a case of too little, too late, as a healthy away following witnessed this 2-1 defeat.

Lancaster came out of the traps quicker than Rangers and were straight on the attack. In just the second minute Captain Luke Jones was caught off guard and he ended up dragging down Bradley Carsley and conceding a free kick, as well as a yellow card. Rob Wilson confidently stepped up and, from around 20 yards, beat Lewis King with a low shot into the bottom corner. The hosts’ tails were up and they started to push the ball around confidently. In fact, it took until the tenth minute for Rangers to put some worthwhile play together. A tidy three man move ended with Theo Bailey-Jones’ deep cross being cut out by keeper Samuel Ashton. Lancaster came back at Rangers as David Norris found himself in space on the left but his effort flashed across goal. A while later and the danger this time came from the right with Wilson driving the ball in for Carsley to volley just over. A brief spell of pressure then saw another Bailey-Jones cross cut out, before Paul Dawson upended Matt Hill and earned himself a caution, with the resulting Andy Haworth free-kick being safely cleared. Jake Charles then went on a powerful run and his low cross into the box saw Bailey-Jones fire his diving header over the bar. On thirty two minutes, Lancaster swung play again as they won a free kick, mid Rangers half. This was launched into the box where a flick on saw young debutant Jack Armer control and prod past King for a two-nil lead. Play then settled into an even period until before half time. Firstly Lancaster came close with Wilson firing through a crowd only for King to be beaten but Hill was on the line, to clear. Then Rangers broke and Hill was involved again as he shot high over the bar.

The second half saw Joe Berks being replaced by Evan Garnett as Rangers went two up front. This affected the play and Rangers seemed brighter for longer periods. On forty eight minutes, Garnett and Haworth both scuffed shots during the same attack and that seemed to sum things up. A while later, a ball over the top saw Haworth advance but Ashton spread himself and saved a decent effort. Armer then blotted his copybook as he was carded for tripping Tom Thorley. Thorley was then replaced along with Haworth as Jack Sherratt and Jed Davies entered play. Lancaster launched an increasingly rare attack but a deep cross to the back post saw Paul Bignot excellently cutting out the chance of Wilson adding to his tally. Davies then saw his first action as he attacked on the left and his low ball was somehow sidefooted wide by Garnett. Soon after this, Charles had an overhead kick blocked as Rangers became more urgent. On eighty three minutes we saw the first reward for improved play as a corner saw Sherratt and Dan Burns both have efforts blocked, but Garnett was there, on hand, to score his debut goal and give Rangers hope. The final stages of the game became hectic and chances came and went. Garnett had an effort saved at the foot of the post, Norris was booked for tripping Bignot, A city break saw Charlie Bailey curl an effort wide, then Rangers came back with Davies having a shot saved and Jones headed straight at Ashton.

Lancaster City: 1 Samuel Ashton, 2 Paul Dawson , 3 Jack Armer , 4 Niall Cowperthwaite, 5 Glenn Steel, 6 Benjamin Hudson, 7 Robert Wilson (Samuel Joel 75′), 8 David Norris , 9 Mathew Blinkhorn, 10 Bradley Carsley (Luke Thompson 90′), 11 Charlie Bailey (Simon Wills 80′) Subs: 12 Lewis Fensome, 14 Simon Wills, 15 Samuel Bailey, 16 Luke Thompson, 17 Samuel Joel

Stafford Rangers: 1 Lewis King, 2 Paul Bignot, 3 Matthew Hill, 4 Luke Jones , 5 Daniel Burns, 6 Alex-Ray Harvey, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley (Jack Sherratt 72′), 9 Jake Charles, 10 Joe Berks (Evan Garnett 47′), 11 Andrew Haworth (Jed Davies 72′) Subs: 12 Evan Garnett, 14 Sam Coulson, 15 Josh Green, 16 Jed Davies, 17 Jack Sherratt

Lancaster City 2-1 Stafford Rangers

Lancaster City 2-1 Stafford Rangers

Aug 17, 2019 | Club News

Lancaster City 2-1 Stafford Rangers

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Lancaster City 2-1 Stafford Rangers

Lancaster 2-1 Stafford Rangers

Aug 17, 2019 | Match Report

Rangers came stuck in their BetVictor NPL opener as they paid for not matching their hosts early exuberance. Being 2-0 down before half time, Evan Garnett’s debut goal was a case of too little too late as a healthy away following witnessed this 2-1 defeat.

Full match report to follow.

Meeks’ Ready For The Off!

Meeks’ Ready For The Off!

Aug 16, 2019 | Club News

Joint Manager Alex Meechan has declared his optimism on the eve of our new BetVictor NPL Campaign.

A pre-season that saw five victories and two draws, with twenty five scored and three conceded, has seen the squad form some good habits, while becoming very competitive.

“We have had a very good pre-season where we have won a lot of games and scored a lot of goals. Everyone is now chomping at the bit for the first game, away at Lancaster City, this Saturday. They all want to hit the ground running, but with that comes pressure. We’ve looked at Lancaster.  We know their strengths and weaknesses so the players have been made aware of them. But we have to concentrate on ourselves. We have got such a talented group. We need to get out there and relax and play as we can. Our preparation has been good, we’ve worked hard and the team has come back, fit.  We hope we can go on and get stronger and fulfil our potential.”

A fit squad was boosted this week, with a fitness session with Villa and Wolves old-boy, Tony Daley who is now a fitness trainer and has worked at a number of league clubs. Alex played with Tony in his days at Forest Green Rovers and was delighted to have his help, again. “It was a little coup for the football club and the players got a lot out of it. It was also great to have fans there as they have been fantastic and have bought into where we want to go.”

Tuesday’s open session also saw the new away shirts go on sale. These will be on sale at our first home game, on Tuesday evening, against Grantham Town. The new red design sells at £30 for adults and £27.50 for juniors.

Lancaster Preview

Aug 13, 2019 | Club News

Saturday 17th August and the new Bet Victor Northern Premier League season kicks off. That, therefore, means that summer is over. Yet again we start the season with an away match. The last time we started the season with a home win was season 2011/12 when FC United visited us in a Northern Premier fixture following our drop down from the Conference North. Technically we started 2016/17 at home to Barwell, but this was because the first game away to Ilkeston had been postponed due to their issues.

This pre-season has been quite a different one in that we knew the squad. In recent years we have had three or four players and a whole host of trialists, with team sheets being a veritable who’s who. There have only been a few new names to come to terms with, who include keeper, Lewis King, who having played for Mickleover is aware of our fans behind the goal. Also, from Mickleover is striker Evan Garnett. We have a new defender in Josh Burns, who for those who do not know is the brother of Dan Burns. I am not convinced they are brothers as Josh is not 7 foot tall. Possibly our marque signing this close season is Alex Ray Harvey who has played most of his football at a much higher level and should be an asset to the squad. His only fault is that he spent some time last season on loan to the side on the dark side of Cannock Chase.

Pre-season friendlies has seen us unbeaten winning 5 and drawing 2 with 25-4 goal difference. Remember you cannot use friendlies for true form as the games are put on to give players match practice, try out new formations. I remember on unbeaten pre-season followed by a first league win coming in October, so do not read too much into the games against Stafford Town and Lichfield, but the fat that all departments of the squad have been tested.

So, we start the season with a nice trip up the M6 along with all the holiday makers going to Blackpool for a game at Giant Axe, the home of Lancaster City. This was a regular journey back in the 70’s with this fixture contested for 9 seasons between 1970/01 and 1978/79 with us winning 4, drawing 2 and losing 3. The first and last games in that era saw Lancaster winning 1-0. Obviously after that run we moved up into the Non-league topflight and while we had our ups and downs and flirtation with Southern League, we did not meet up again till 2017/18 following Lancaster gaining promotion from Division 1. 2017/18 saw us draw 1-1 with a last-minute Robert Thompson-Brown penalty, and last season saw us draw 0-0, playing most of the game with 10 men.

I am not aware of any supporter’s coach going but I understand many will make it by car and train. The Lancaster railway station overlooks the ground, so if you fancy a couple of hours trainspotting you can also view a game of football as a bonus.