Andy Fearn has tonight (Tuesday 7th) confirmed that we have agreed terms with 4 more players. Paul Bignot, Andrai Jones, Andy Haworth and Sam Coulson have all agreed to stay on for 2019/20, so that means all of the squad that ended the season, apart from loanees Adam Siviter and Sim Thandi, have been retained.
Having had a successful second half of the season with Alex and Andy, a number of supporters have asked what the next steps are to move the football club forward. Although the board’s debt reduction strategy is successfully addressing the problem, the club’s historical debt burden is still affecting our ability to provide the managers with the best possible playing budget. So, prompted by the original question, and because the most important thing for all of us is to have a winning team, the club has decided to create a Players Fund with all money raised being ring fenced and guaranteed to the playing budget. We hope that as many fans and commercial sponsors as possible will support the fund by making one off or season long monthly donations at whatever level they feel comfortable with, the minimum being £5 per month for the 9 months of the playing season or donations can be made directly to the football club.
Staffs Senior Cup Final | Monday 29 April 2019
Stafford Rangers retained the Staffs Senior Cup with a comfortable victory over Rushall Olympic to strengthen their record as the competition’s most successful non-league club. After a cagey opening ten minutes that Rangers shaded, the cup holders took control of the first half proceedings and never looked like losing. Rangers had posed most of the threat without testing Ben Newey until an Andy Haworth cross was missed by the Rushall keeper forcing Lee Smith to concede a corner. Haworth took the flag kick and, after an exchange with Matt Hill, picked out Theo Bailey-Jones who fired wide of the target.
But the opening goal wasn’t long in coming and it came out of another Haworth corner on 17 minutes. Luke Jones rose high to head the ball back across goal and Dan Burns nodded in at the near post. Jack Sherratt – the only Stafford player who was in last season’s winning side – fired wide and Luke Jones headed over as Rangers looked to take a firm hold but when Hill got caught in possession, Sherratt had to ‘take one for the team’ and picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Simeon Maye. Sherratt remained in the thick of the action, forcing a save from Newey after combining with Jake Charles.
It was Charles who made it 2-0 on 35 mins, sliding in to convert the rebound after Newey could only parry Tom Thorley’s initial strike. Haworth’s free kick was inches away from adding a third while Tyler Lyttle spurned Rushall’s best chance when he delayed his shot and Thorley nipped in to clear the danger. Rushall enjoyed a better start to the second half, keeping the ball better when in possession, but there was no end product when they pushed forward.
Instead, it was Stafford who looked most likely to add to their tally. Haworth fired low at Newey after holding off Lyttle’s challenge and it was little surprise when the lead was extended on 58 mins although there was a double element of good fortune behind it. First came as Joe Hull attempted to let an overhit ball from Burns run for a goal-kick. The Rushall defender misjudged the flight of the ball which struck him on the back and went out for a corner. Hill and Haworth combined once more with the latter sending in a cross from the left and Charles’ header deflected off Rushall captain Orrin Pendley and past a wrong-footed Newey. With the result in the bag, it was a display of exhibition football from Rangers who took advantage of an excellent playing surface to demonstrate their passing game to the delight of their fans – although they rarely looked like adding further to the tally. Haworth whipped in a free kick, which was comfortably taken by Newey, and late shot from Bailey-Jones was as close as they came while Rushall simply didn’t look like scoring and Rangers were able to celebrate their 13th competition success.
Stafford Rangers: 1 Adam Siviter, 2 Sam Coulson (14 Josh Green 80m), 3 Matt Hill, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Dan Burns, 6 Andrai Jones, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones (15 Louis Briscoe 90+2m), 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles (16 Ben Mills 82m), 10 Jack Sherratt, 11 Andy Haworth. Unused Subs: 12 Joe Cuff, 17 Declan Arber
Rushall Olympic:1 Ben Newey, 2 Tyler Lyttle, 3 AJ Adelekan, 4 Lee Smith, 5 Joe Hull (14 Massiah McDonald 63m), 6 Orrin Pendley, 7 Danny O’Callaghan, 8 Simeon Maye, 9 Danny Waldron, 10 Ashley Sammons (12 Adam Soleman 83m), 11 Brian Smikle (16 Ben Lund 46m). Unused Subs 15 Kieron Berry – only four subs named
Cautions: Sherratt, A Jones (Stafford)
Referee: Greg Rollason
Attendance: 754
Report by Chris Elsley
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League | Saturday 27 April 2019
Stafford Rangers wrapped up their league season with a comfortable win against a Matlock Town side who will be glad to see the end of the current campaign. It’s a different story for Rangers however who are just starting to show their potential and another month would have seen them challenging for a top 10 place rather than 14th which they have to settle for. Having secured their league status last Monday and with the forthcoming Staffs Senior Cup final in mind, Rangers made several changes – including a welcome return to action for Josh Green after three months out through injury – but this re-jigged side was still far too good for Matlock who had leaked 10 goals in their previous two outings.
Four more were to follow at Marston Road but not before the Gladiators had taken the lead just past the half hour mark – triggering a goal rush after a fairly uninspiring opening. In fairness to players from both sides, conditions were far from ideal as wind and rain, combined with a bobbly pitch, were poor ingredients. Until the goals started to flow, the best chance had fallen to Matlock’s Marcus MacDonald on 27 mins when he broke in to the area on the right but found his path to goal blocked by Sim Thandi. Other than that, the main talking point was the yellow card show to Joe Cuff for a seemingly fair 50-50 tackle when two earlier challenges from Matlock players had gone unpunished. Cuff, it seems, has been targeted, and half a step out of line will earn a caution.
It was MacDonald who opened the scoring on 34 minutes when he took down a long ball from Dwayne Wiley and poked it past the advancing Adam Siviter. Two minutes later, Rangers were level. Matlock failed to clear a Jed Davies free kick and captain for the day Ben Mills drove home from around 15 yards after Andy Haworth had done well on the right to keep the attack alive. Three minutes after Mills’ strike, Rangers were ahead, and it was Haworth who got his name on the scoresheet for the first time although he did benefit from a wicked deflection off Matlock’s Adam Yates.
Haworth deserves credit for his part. Receiving a pass from Davies, he burst between two Matlock defenders before driving in a shot which was too strong for Yates’ fruitless attempt to cut out. Three minutes into the second half and Sam Coulson made it 3-1 with a left footer from around 12 yards out following another free kick into the Matlock area that the visiting defence failed to clear. There was a comical moment soon after when Matlock’s Greg Tempest and keeper Jordan Pierrepont both went for the same ball. Tempest got there first but in doing so nearly sliced the ball into his own net, having to hack clear off the line at the second attempt.
Mills wasted another chance when he rushed his shot after more poor defending from Matlock – this time Michael Hollingsworth and Bradley Beatson at fault – but Mills fired high and wide. It was Haworth who was to have the final say on the day. Four minutes from time, Thandi hit a long ball which should have been mopped up by Matlock but both Pierrepont and Beatson left it to each other, Haworth took advantage of the hesitation and nipped in to clip the ball over the stranded keeper. Wanting to go out on a high, Haworth was close to completing his hat trick a couple of minutes later when his 25-yarder hit the foot of the post.
Stafford: 1 Adam Siviter, 2 Josh Green (12 Tom Thorley 56m), 3 Sim Thandi, 4 Sam Coulson, 5 Dan Burns, 6 Andrai Jones (15 Jack Sherratt 60m), 7 Andy Haworth, 8 Peter Williams, 9 Ben Mills, 10 Jed Davies, 11 Joe Cuff (17 Louis Briscoe 69m). Unused Subs 14 Theo Bailey-Jones, 16 Luke Jones
Matlock Town: 1 Jordan Pierrepont, 2 Cleveland Taylor (14 Nathan Morley 51m) 3 Bradley Beatson, 4 Michael Hollingsworth, 5 Dwayne Wiley, 6 Adam Yates, 7 Nyle Blake, 8 Nathan Whitehead (12 Callum Chettle 60m), 9 Marcus MacDonald, 10 Jordan Chapell, 11 Greg Tempest. Unused Subs 13 Tony Fleming, 15 Lee Beevers, 16 Craig Westcarr
Cautions: Cuff (Rangers)
Ref: Paul Stonier
Att: 606
Report by Chris Elsley
