Hanley Town v Stafford Rangers

REPORT

Stafford Rangers were on the end of a heavy beating by big spending Hanley Town in their latest pre-season fixture.

Although the scoreline will not be what Rangers wanted, defeat wasn’t totally unexpected after manager Matt Hill announced that he would be fielding a side with a number of triallists. Hanley, meanwhile, fielded a side packed with experience, including Carl Dickinson, Louis Dodds and Danny Glover.

The hosts dictated play from the early stages and Glover forced a save from Cameron Belford who then denied Reece Jones.

Glover put Hanley ahead in the 13th minute after a bit of luck helped him bring Chris Dagnall’s long ball under control and take it past Belford.

One of Rangers’ more familiar faces – Joe Kenton – had his evening cut short when he twisted his knee after being fouled by Charlie Walford.

Rangers created a smattering of first half chances for their triallist players – the no 11 fired over after being set up by Jack Baxter while the best came from the no 9 who forced his way through the Hanley defence only to see his shot come back off the post.

Rangers started the second half well with players switching positions but a howler at the back from the no 5 gifted Hanley their second goal on 51 minutes – Dodds converting after the defender had failed to cut out a long ball.

Chris Dagnall made it 3-0 on 59 minutes before Dodds added a fourth when the Stafford no 5 was again at fault having failed to stop the former Port Vale man.

Hanley had chances to score again before Glover wrapped things up at the second attempt in the 87th minute.

It was a night where Hill will have made more decisions about players who will not feature further in his plans rather than potential signings.

Hanley Town: 1 Kieran Harrison, Rhys Thompson, Charlie Walford, Jake Twyford, Jayden Cottrell, Carl Dickinson, Reece Jones, Chris Dagnall, Danny Glover, Louis Dodds, James Lawrie (Ryan Campbell-Gordon 66m).

Rangers: Cameron Belford, Andy Burns (Taylor Draper 73m), Triallist A, Jack Baxter (Theo Bailey-Jones 73m), Triallist B, Ben Forrest, Joe Kenton (17 Ryan-Jay Malbon 26m), Triallist C, Triallist D (Triallist F 46m), Joe Willis (Will Holt 81m), Triallist E

Report: Chris Elsley