Lichfield City v Stafford Rangers

REPORT

Stafford Rangers booked themselves a second round trip to Coleshill Town in the Walsall Senior Cup after victory over Lichfield City.

It was a convincing second half performance from Rangers after a goal-less opening 45 minutes and then seeing the home side take the lead.

Neil Kitching named a strong side although he had few alternative options. Arron Davies was rested and Scott Wara not available while Ash Fallon was not risked due to him suffering with a minor shoulder injury.

Rangers made a bright start and produced the first shot on target but Callum King-Harmes could not beat Isaac Dedman-Taylor in the home goal. Soon after, Tomasi Wara had a shot blocked.

Logan Cousins was next to try his luck when he fired over from just outside the area before Lichfield began to get a foothold on the game.

Zach Noble got low to keep out a header from Joe Haines after the Lichfield defender had been gifted a free header then Harry Wakefield fired into the side netting.

The home side went closer still when Kieran Francis hit the cross bar from wide on the right and Noble did well to save Jack Edwards’ follow up effort.

Francis headed over while Wakefield was unable to take advantage after Noble had been forced to rush a clearance.

After surviving sustained pressure from the home side, Rangers finished the half as the stronger of the two sides but headers from Jimmy O’Neill and Jack Birch – either side of a shot from Cousins – were unable to open the scoring.

It was Lichfield who got the breakthrough, less than two minutes after the resumption. Wara got caught on the ball and Wakefield held off the Stafford man to fire past Noble.

Noble made a decent save to prevent Francis from adding to the score with a spectacular overhead kick before Edwards put another effort over.

Rangers got back level on the hour when Kaiman Anderson let the ball run through for Cousins who held off Dan Lomas to score his first goal for the club.

Three minutes later, substitute Joe Thomas put Rangers ahead after being set up by John Atherton.

Cousins added Rangers’ third in a seven minute spell with a smart finish after a surging run from O’Neill before Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi slammed the ball into an empty net on 73 minutes after Dedman-Taylor had dropped a high cross from King-Harmes at his feet.

A misplaced header from Andy Burns gave Edwards a simple tap in to reduce the arrears on 84 minutes but it is Rangers who progress.

Lichfield City: 1 Isaac Dedman-Taylor, 2 Josh Mansell, 3 Joe Haines, 4 Jamie Spiers, 5 Jim Elkes, 6 Dan Lomas, 7 Jack Edwards, 8 James Willcock (12 John Mills 68m), 9 Harry Wakefield, 10 Max Beech (15 Luke Childs 68m), 11 Kieron Francis. Unused Subs 14 Anthony Simkiss, 16 Max Harwood, 17 Taylor Everitt

Stafford Rangers: 1 Zach Noble, 2 Callum Wilson (15 Jack Schollar 88m), 3 Andy Burns, 4 James McQuilkin, 5 Tomasi Wara, 6 Jimmy O’Neill, 7 Callum King-Harmes (16 John Atherton 61m), 8 Jack Birch (14 Max Barlow 88m), 9 Kaiman Anderson (12 Joe Thomas 61m), 10 Logan Cousins, 11 Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi. Unused Subs 17 Graham Deakin

Goals: Lichfield: Wakefield 47m, Edwards 88m; Rangers: Cousins (2) 60m, 67m; Thomas 63m, Adu-Gyamfi 73m

Referee: Ben Robinson

Cautions: Wilcock, Francis (Lichfield)

Att: 293

Report by Chris Elsley