Next Saturday we venture into Derbyshire to play Buxton. Always a pleasant trip over the Roaches, but only if the weather is fine. Buxton took home a point from our recent encounter at Marston Road and will be looking to take all three on a surface Stafford Rangers never do well on. Last Saturday Buxton picked up a very creditable draw at table toppers South Shields, so a side who a few months ago looked to be one of our relegation colleagues, now lead Rangers by 10 points. Buxton are currently on a 5-league game unbeaten run although many have been draws. However, in that run they lost 3-1 away to Newcastle Town in the Integro Cup. Okay we may not know the strength of Buxton line up for the cup game, but it was played out in front of only 75 fans. As we soon travel to Newcastle for a Staffs Senior Cup game, could it be that despite our current plight, we may take more fans to that game than the home team.

At home in the league Buxton have won 3, drawn 5 and lost 7. Out of the 3 wins they include a 7-0 over Grantham and a 5-0 over Scarborough. They did however lose 1-2 at home to Atherton, the side directly above us. Therefore, it appears the game could go either way, but while 3 points are up for grabs, then we must take them and put to rest our hoodoo on synthetic pitches.

Situated 1000 feet above sea level, the Silverlands is the highest ground within the Pyramid of soccer. We have played Buxton many times in the old Cheshire League, but they gained entry into the Northern Premier league in season73/74, and we met each season in the seventies till our move up the leagues, whereas Buxton dipped down with two relegations to the Northern Countries east in 1997 and 1998. They returned to the Northern Premier fold with promotion to NPL 1 in 2006

Our paths met up again from season 2011/12 and since then there have been 6 NPL fixtures between Buxton and Stafford Rangers with Rangers winning 1, drawing2 and losing 3, a run we certainly need to turn around.

Travelling fans need to use Sat Nav SK17 6QH, but street parking is the only choice amid residential streets and the police headquarters. Train travellers beware as you must go to Stockport to change for a Buxton train.

Games played on 29TH February this century.
February 29th only comes around every 4 years and as such we have yet to play a game on this date this century. Therefore, I look at games played either side, on February 28th and March 1st.

Feb 28th
2004 Crawley H 0-1 Southern Premier League
2006 Woking H 2-4 F A Trophy round 4 replay
2009 Burscough A 0-2 Conference North
2012 Northwich V H 1-1 Northern Premier League
2015 Sheffield H 0-0 Northern Premier League Division 1

March 1st
2003 Folkstone A 2-1 Southern Premier League
2005 Gainsborough H 2-0 Conference North
2008 Farsley H 0-2 Conference
2011 Redditch A 1-0 Conference North
2014 Stamford A 0-1 Northern premier League