Newcastle Town — Stafford Rangers

REPORT

Graham Deakin named an unchanged 16 for the clash between Rangers in 17th and Castle in 18th with the same starting XI that defeated Shifnal Town a week earlier.

Shortly before kick off, rain began to fall on the already heavy pitch making conditions increasingly difficult as the afternoon progressed.

Rangers created the better opportunities in the opening quarter. Kaiman Anderson blazed wide when well placed having just missed out with an attempted back heel five minutes earlier.

The home side grew into the game and it needed Andy Burns to throw himself in front of a shot from Joel Jones to keep the sides on level terms.

The first half became a mudbath with rain falling and both sides struggled to cope with the conditions as passing football became a lottery. Kaiman Anderson had a couple of half openings that failed to produce while John Atherton fired over after Jack Birch’s initial shot had been blocked.

The best effort of the half came from Newcastle’s Josh Bowden who sent in a shot from 25 yards that went just past the outside of Scott Moloney’s right hand post.

Half Time: Newcastle Town 0 Stafford Rangers 0

During the interval, the referee indicated he would monitor conditions over the opening 10 minutes of the second half but, fortunately, the rained eased, allowing play to continue.

Newcastle made a couple of half time substitutions and one of them – Lewis Jacklin – almost got himself on the scoresheet a couple of minutes after the resumption with a drive across the face of goal after being picked out on the overlap by Joe Hunter.

Soon after, Moloney held on to a shot from the other Castle sub, Tom Jones, as the home side enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges.

Rangers responded and felt that they should have had a penalty on the hour when Anderson went to ground but referee Mark Bates turned down the appeal. It was just one of a number of decisions questioned by both camps.

Rangers’ frustrations were deepened when the home side went ahead a minute later. Ethan Vale laid the ball back to Lewis Brown who produced a rare moment of quality with an unstoppable 25 yard shot that gave Moloney no chance.

The quality of Brown’s strike was matched by the quality of Matt Hearsey’s header as Rangers levelled on 69 minutes – the recent signing recording his third goal for the club when he got on the end of Ben O’Hanlon’s deep centre.

Moloney kept the scores level when keeping out Tom Jones while Stafford sub Dan Cockerline had his side’s best chance in the closing stages but headed over from Birch’s corner.
The draw was a fair outcome and both sides benefitted from results elsewhere with Rangers leadfrogging Sporting Khalsa who they face this Saturday.

Full Time: Newcastle Town 1 Stafford Rangers 1

Newcastle Town: 1 Joe Slinn, 2 Jayden Kirk (15 Lewis Jacklin 46m (12 Sean Lawton 85m)), 3 Oli Ritchie, 4 Lewis Brown, 5 Karsten Cairns, 6 Isaac Irwin, 7 Joe Hunter, 8 Ethan Vale (17 Harry Bower 82m), 9 Tim Grice, 10 Joel Jones (16 Tom Jones 46m), 11 Josh Bowden (14 Will Arnold 72m)

Stafford Rangers: 1 Scott Moloney, 2 Andy Burns, 3 Ben O’Hanlon, 4 Ashley Fallon (15 James McQuilkin 89m), 5 Harry Flowers, 6 Callum Wilson, 7 John Atherton, 8 Marsel Tola (12 Dan Cockerline 57m), 9 Kaiman Anderson (17 Max Chimenes 62m), 10 Jack Birch, 11 Matthew Hearsey (16 Joe Thomas 83m). Unused Subs 14 James O’Neill

Goals:

Newcastle: Brown 62m
Stafford: Hearsey 69m

Referee: Mark Bates

Cautions: None

Att: 617

Report by Chris Elsley

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