Evo-Stik Northern Premier League
Saturday 17 November 2018

Stafford Rangers produced a solid display to pick up a point away to rapidly improving Lancaster City and they had to do it with 10 men after midfielder Andy Haworth was sent off shortly before half time.

After last week’s dismal exit from the FA Trophy, James Askey was recalled to the left back position while Haworth – cup tied for the Basford game – came in for Izak Reid. Apart from the incident that led to Haworth’s dismissal, there was little to talk about in the opening half. The two teams slogged away but found the respective opposition defences tough to break down.

What chances did happen came Rangers’ way. The best fell to Jack Sherratt on 28 mins when he was left unmarked from Theo Bailey-Jones’ corner, but his header lacked power and direction. Earlier, Haworth had got on the end of a ball down the inside right channel from Lewis Banks and flicked it past Jack Sims but also across the face of goal and wide of the far post.

Lancaster’s best chance came a couple of minutes after Sherratt’s miss but Charlie Russell fired high over from the edge of the area. Haworth’s dismissal in the 40th minute came after an off the ball clash with Simon Wills. The Lancaster born player took a harmless but petulant kick out at Wills, but the referee failed to spot the Lancaster captain’s provocative elbow.

Lancaster had a great chance on the hour when Russell flicked on Ryan Winder’s free kick and Andrai Jones had to head off the line.
Tom Kilifon sent another header across the face of the Stafford goal then put Winder through, but he hit the side netting after being forced wide by Adam Whitehouse.

Stafford were still a threat and Luke Jones headed wide at the back post from Josh Green’s free kick although it was an over hit back pass from Craig Stanley that gave Lancaster their greatest concern.  The home side pressed late on and Whitehouse saved well from Kilifin to ensure his side took a deserved share of the spoils.

Lancaster: 1 Jack Sims , 2 Rob Henry (12 Lewis Fensome 18m), 3 Cole Lonsdale, 4 Steve Williams, 5 Ben Hudson, 6 Craig Stanley (16 Charlie Bailey 77m), 7 Charlie Russell (15 Reece Webb-Foster 62m), 8 Simon Wills, 9 Ryan Winder, 10 Rob Wilson, 11 Rob Kilifin. Unused Subs 14 Paul Dugdale, 17 Glenn Steel
Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 James Askey, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Jack Sherratt, 6 Dan Burns, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones (17 Josh Green 77m), 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles, 10 Andrai Jones, 11 Andrew Haworth. Unused Subs 12 Harry Benns, 14 Ethan Stanton, 15 Sam Coulson, 16 Izak Reid

Cautions: Lonsdale (Lancaster), Sherratt, Burns (Rangers)
Sent Off: Haworth (Rangers)

Referee: Daniel Locker

Att: 276

Report by Chris Elsley

Buildbase FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round
Saturday 10 November 2018

Stafford’s four match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with a sorry exit from the FA Trophy at Basford United.
Rangers welcomed back Tom Thorley after a two match absence through injury were missing Joe Cuff (suspension) and Sam Coulson (family reasons) while Andy Haworth was cup tied.

The tie was more or less over inside 20 mins as the home side raced into a three goal lead. Zak Goodson opened the scoring after just 6 mins. A long ball from defence was flicked on by Nathan Watson for Courey Grantham to give chase. He got behind the Stafford defence and his shot on goal was steered in by Goodson.

Goodson added the second on 17 mins. Dan Burns lost possession midway inside the Stafford half, James Reid broke down the right, found Goodson and he calmly picked his spot to extend the lead. Two minutes later, a questionable free kick was awarded against Rangers but there was no doubt about the outcome as Kieran Fenton’s 25 yarder past the motionless Adam Whitehouse made it 3-0.

Slowly, Stafford came more to terms with the pacey 3G pitch but without creating too much. Luke Jones sent a header towards goal that was cleared by the combined efforts of Keiran Preston and Liam Bateman then Andrai Jones scuffed a shot wide after a poor clearance from keeper Preston. The closest Rangers came to scoring was a mishit clearance from Fenton that forced Preston to acrobatically head over his own bar.

Stafford looked more purposeful after the break and within a minute Izak Reid saw a shot land on top of the Basford net while Theo Bailey-Jones put two other chances wide. Jake Charles also went close when he turned one across the face of goal.
But Basford’s goal stayed intact and the game drifted towards its inevitable conclusion, interrupted only by Basford’s Liam Hearn who added his side’s fourth from the penalty spot in the first minute of added time after Lewis Banks had bundled Goodson to ground.

Basford: 1 Keiran Preston, 2 Liam Bateman, 3 Deon Meikle (15 Ciaran Keane 75m), 4 Jerry Nash, 5 Kieren Fenton, 6 Lewis Carr, 7 Jack Thomas, 8 Zak Goodson, 9 Nathan Watson, 10 Courey Grantham, 11 James Reid (14 Gregory Tempest 72m). Unused Subs 16 Niall Hylton, 17 Shick Ndong
Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 Ben Chilcott, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Dan Burns, 6 Jack Sherratt (16 Josh Green 64m), 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley, 9 Jake Charles (14 Ethan Stanton 72m), 10 Andrai Jones, 11 Izak Reid (15 Harry Benns 53m). Unused Subs 12 James Askey, 17 Morgan Bacon
Cautions: Fenton, J Reid (Basford); Burns (Rangers)

Referee: Jack Forder

Att: 246

Report by Chris Elsley

Staffs Senior Cup 2nd Round
Tuesday 6 November 2018

Stafford Rangers survived a late scare from Rocester to start their defence of the Staffordshire Senior Cup that they won by beating Hednesford Town at the end of last season. Although Steve Burr made a number of changes to the side that drew with Gainsborough Trinity on Saturday, he had learned from the lesson at Lye Town a couple of weeks ago and ensured there was still a healthy amount of experience in the starting XI.

Rangers looked the stronger side from the off but had little to show for it. Andy Haworth tried his luck from the edge of the D inside 5 mins, but fans had to wait until beyond the half hour mark before they saw another decent effort from the home side – this time Josh Green hit the cross bar from a similar distance.

All too often, Rangers tried to walk it in when in good position around the Rocester penalty area and the visiting defence were quick to close down and extinguish the danger. Rocester’s main threat came from midfielder Micah Jebbson. On a number of occasions, he attacked down the left wing taking on and beating defenders James Askey and Sam Coulson.

On 22 mins, he forced Adam Whitehouse to save with his feet then, a minute later, he kept the ball well but couldn’t find the power to beat the Rangers’ keeper. On 34 mins he cut in again from the left but shot across the face of goal.

The threat lessened when he switched to the right for the final few minutes of the half and it was Rangers who were on top at half time thanks to a low 25-yard strike from Jack Sherratt on 43 mins that squeezed between Lewis Bullock’s left hand and post.
Rangers almost went 2-0 up early in the second half when Derry Creighton sliced a clearance against his own bar, but the second Stafford goal wasn’t far away, and it came from a good strike from sub Joe Cuff on 53 mins after Josh Green had rolled him a short free kick.

Captain for the night, Green got on the scoresheet himself three minutes later after a howler in the Rocester area when Luca Sorrentino’s back pass was missed by keeper Bullock leaving Green with the simple task.  New signing Liam Collings crashed a shot into the stomach of a Rocester defender as Stafford threatened to add further goals, but the visitors came close to pulling one back when James Askey was forced to clear off the line from Jordan Dodd.

Rocester’s efforts on the night deserved a goal and they got one on 81 mins when Sorrentino stroked the ball home from the edge of the area. It was game on a minute later when Carl Allen headed home from Jordan Godfrey’s free kick, but Jake Charles made sure of Rangers’ progress through to the quarter finals in the third minute of added time when he ended a solo run by hammering the ball home with the last kick of the match.

Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse (17 Morgan Bacon 64m), 2 James Askey, 3 Ben Chilcott, 4 Dan Burns, 5 Sam Coulson, 6 Josh Green, 7 Andrew Haworth (16 Joe Cuff 46m), 8 Jack Sherratt, 9 Andrai Jones (14 Jake Charles 64m), 10 Harry Benns, 11 Liam Collings. Unused Subs 12 Theo Bailey-Jones, 15 Lewis Banks.
Rocester:1 Lewis Bullock, 2 Matt Nutt, 3 Derry Creighton, 4 Joshua Sedgley (14 Sam Golden 66m), 5 Luke Tandy, 6 Carl Allen, 7 Luca Sorrentino, 8 Zak Hill (12 Jordan Godfrey 53m), 9 Jordan Dodd, 10 Jack Jeffery, 11 Micah Jebbison. Unused Subs 15 Luke Partridge – only three subs named.

Cautions: None
Ref: Steve Martin
Att: 178

Report: Chris Elsley

EVO-STIK NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE
SATURDAY 3 NOVEBMER 2018

Rangers’ manager Steve Burr saw it as two points dropped after watching his side held to a draw by Gainsborough Trinity on the day when the club paid tribute to President Jon Downing along with the victims of the Leicester City helicopter crash and those who lost their lives in the cause of freedom in numerous conflicts around the world. The Boro were without Tom Thorley who picked up an injury at Chasetown while Dan Burns was suspended but making his debut was newcomer Andrew Haworth following his move from Bamber Bridge while another new face Andrai Jones made his first start after a substitute appearance in midweek.

A gusty wind made life difficult for both teams and the first half produced few chances.

But Rangers did take a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to a 12th minute strike from Izak Reid who side stepped his man to fire past Marcus Dewhurst although much of the hard work was done by Haworth whose persistence saw him force his way past two defenders.
Haworth went close to doubling Stafford’s lead with a volley after James Askey’s long ball had held up in the wind. Dewhurst was almost caught off guard, but he managed to gather at the second attempt.

But the best chance Rangers created fell to Theo Bailey-Jones just before the interval. Haworth was again involved with a lay off from Lewis Banks’ initial ball. Bailey-Jones created himself a yard of space but then blazed his shot high over.

The second half was a slow starter with neither side creating much apart from Haworth’s from around 20 yards shot which failed to get enough dip while a quick free kick from Gainsborough saw sub Harry Middleton put Shane Clarke through only for Sam Coulson to halt his run with a timely interception.

Simon Russell had a shot deflected wide and Alex Byrne sent a free kick wide as Gainsborough’s game became more purposeful and they were rewarded on 81 mins when Russell launched a counter attack and released Ashley Worsfold to fire past Adam Whitehouse.
Stafford had to play out the last few minutes with 10 men after sub Joe Cuff was harshly sent off for picking up two yellow cards in five minutes – the second a contentious one after his path was blocked by Joe Maguire in the area and Stafford appealed in vain for a penalty.

Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 James Askey, 4 Luke Jones, 5 Sam Coulson, 6 Andrai Jones, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Jack Sherratt, 9 Jake Charles (12 Harry Benns 85m), 10 Andrew Haworth, 11 Izak Reid (16 Joe Cuff 76m). Unused Subs 14 Ethan Stanton, 15 Josh Green, 17 Ben Chilcott

Gainsborough: 1 Marcus Dewhurst, 2 Neil Austin, 3 Ben Gordon, 4 Shane Clarke, 5 Ioan Evans (14 Joe Maguire 33m), 6 Nathan Stainfield, 7 Alex Byrne, 8 Simon Russell, 9 Ashley Worsfold, 10 Jonathan Margetts (15 Harry Middleton 46m), 11 Alex Simmons. Unused Subs 12 Jaime Ture, 16 Damian Reeves, 17 Elliot Wilson.

Cautions: Haworth, L Jones (Rangers); Byrne, Maguire (Gainsborough)
Sent Off: Cuff (Rangers) – 2 cautions

Referee: Darren Rogers

Att: 457

Report by Chris Elsley