INTEGRO CUP DATE
The postponed Integro Cup match v Coalville has now been re arranged for Tuesday 6th March at Marston Road. Kick off 7.45pm
Karl Hawley – Released
Stafford Rangers would like to announce that Karl Hawley has been released.
We would like to thank Karl for all his efforts in his short stay with us and wish him all the best for the future.
New Player
Stafford Rangers wish to welcome new signing Richard Platt. Richard is a defender who has played for Gloucester, Banbury, North Leigh and Hednesford.
Date for your diary!
Tuesday 27 th February we entertain Kidsgrove in the Staffs Senior Cup. Lets hope for a big crowd that night to cheer the team through to the semi final. More details on this fixture in the next few weeks.
Marine 1 – 1 Stafford Rangers
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League
Saturday 3 February 2018
Rangers had to settle for a point from their trip to Marine in a game that both sides could have won but neither deserved to lose.
Marine probably edged the opening 10 minutes with skipper Dan Mitchley involved in all of their early chances but he never really troubled Adam Whitehouse.
It was a poor kick from the Rangers’ keeper that gave Mitchley his best opportunity after the ball struck Kieran Morris on the back but the Boro defender got back quickly to extinguish the danger.
As the game developed, Rangers got more of a look in and Morris was in the action at the other end when he headed over while Jack Sherratt fired wide.
Spencer Myers sent a shot from the edge of the D rising over the Rangers bar and James Short fired a dangerous ball across the face of goal as Marine kept pressing the stand end of the ground.
But it was the home goal that was under the greatest threat and Massiah McDonald forced Martin Fearon into the first real save of the afternoon, the Marine keeper acrobatically leaping high to his left to concede the corner.
But, after Mitchley had headed over for Marine, it was a cracker from McDonald that broke the deadlock, a minute before the interval, the on loan forward beating Fearon from around 25 yards.
There was still time for Marine to stage one last attack before the interval but Whitehouse was able to gather Mitchley’s header.
Whitehouse saved another Mitchley header early in the second half while Fearon parried a shot from Karl Hawley and was able to gather with no Rangers player on hand to pick up the pieces.
Rangers survived a scare when Whitehouse spilled a free kick from Kenny Strickland, inviting Mitchley in but Morris slid in to clear off the line.
Two minutes later, Morris turned from hero to villain. A poor header from Jordaan Brown gave Dominic Reid an opening but he was bundled over by Morris who was sent off and Mitchley got his goal from the penalty spot to level on 75 mins.
Despite being a man down, Rangers continued to press and Osebi Abadaki missed a glorious chance to restore their lead when he blazed over from 6 yards out after good work on the right from Robert Thompson-Brown. McDonald then hit the side netting from 18 yards.
As the game reached its final stages, Thompson-Brown volleyed high over and Abadaki forced a save from Fearon but Marine should have won it in added time. Vincent Bailey squared for the unmarked Mitchley but Whitehouse saved superbly. Seconds later, Mitchley fired over with the last kick of the match.
Marine: 1 Martin Fearon, 2 Kenny Strickland, 3 James Short, 4 Adam Hughes (12 Peter Wylie 66m), 5 Phil Baker, 6 Spencer Myers, 7 Florian da Silva (15 Niall Watson 65m), 8 Michael Brewster, 9 Danny Mitchley, 10 Vincent Bailey, 11 Johnny McGrath (16 Dominic Reid 65m) . Unused subs 14 Liam Tongue, 17 Charlie Duke
Rangers: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Sam Griffiths, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Kieran Morris, 5 Jordaan Brown, 6 Josh Craddock, 7 Osebi Abadaki, 8 Jack Sherratt, 9 Karl Hawley (15 Levi Reid 76m), 10 Massiah McDonald, 11 Robert Thompson-Brown. Unused subs 12 Dan Westwood, 14 Joe Thomas, 16 Izak Reid, 17 Brad Caswell
Cautions: Strickland (Marine), Brown (Rangers)
Sent off: Morris (Rangers)
Referee: Jack Neild
Att: 445
Report: Chris Elsley
Staffs Senior Cup
After the nail biting penalty shootout against Rocester we find ourselves drawn at home to Kidsgrove, who appear to have that knack of knocking us out of cup competitions. We need a big following to help the club through to the semi-final. However, first we need to find a free date for the Kidsgrove game. Staffs FA games take president over league games and as both teams come under the NPL banner, that could be an option. The Game must be played by 20/02/18.
Should we beat Kidsgrove than the semi-final draw has been made and the victors are at home to the winners of the Wolverhampton Sporting v Walsall tie, which is being played on 13/02/18.
The semi-final must be played in week commencing 05/03/18, and guess what we have a blank fixture on 06/03/18 should it be ourselves who go through. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but many are looking forward to another Staffs FA Cup final which this year is at Stoke’s Britannia stadium.
Please keep up to date with fixture changes as they occur on the official club media pages. We will endeavour to give you as much advanced information as we can.
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