Warrington Rylands v Stafford Rangers

REPORT

The gulf in class was obvious as Stafford Rangers were thumped 7-2 by high flying Warrington Rylands on a wet and windy afternoon in Cheshire.

Manager Dave Cooke introduced loan signing Ian Kanga on the left side of defence as the only new face in the starting line up.

A poor header from Javid Swaby-Neavin almost let Kaiman Anderson in but the Rylands defender reacted quickly to hack the ball away.

Despite Rangers having the strong wind in their favour, it was the home side who struck the first blow after just 7 minutes.

Joe Adams was allowed to cut in from the right and hit a left footed shot beyond the reach of Cam Belford.

Ben Hardcastle could only find Belford with a shot from the edge of the area before a good block from Kamga denied Adama Sidibeh after a mix up between Andy Burns and Ethan Stewart.

Rylands moved further ahead on 21 minutes with a well worked corner.

Adams played it short to Mo Touray then drilled the return between Belford and his near post.

Rangers managed to reduce the arrears three minutes later. Nathan Blissett’s challenge forced the ball into the path of Anderson who fired a first time shot past Luke Pilling.

Rylands were starting to show their class and only a good block tackle from Stewart kept out Hardcastle while Djavan Pedro was inches away from converting a curling free kick from Touray.

At the other end Taylor McMahon sliced a volley high and wide while Anderson missed out on an equaliser with another opportunity that fell his way.

But Rylands heeded the warning and when Burns’ interception fell to Sidibeh five minutes before the break, the Warrington man took one touch to set himself then fired home his side’s third goal.

Anderson fired over with the first chance of the second half and missed out again when he slipped following a break by substitute A-Jay Leitch-Smith.

Another good block from Stewart denied Pedro a certain looking goal before Adams completed his hat trick on 58 minutes with a deflected free kick which left Belford wrong footed.

Rangers were then hit by two more goals in the next six minutes. Sidibeh made it 5-1 on 61 minutes after converting a pass from Pedro then Touray finished a good move by steering the ball inside the post on 64 minutes.

Belford denied Sidibeh his hat trick but was unable to keep out Rylands’ sub
James Baillie who burst down the right before hitting his side’s seventh goal on 79 minutes.

Anderson pulled one back on 84 minutes, a goal that improved Rangers’ goal difference sufficiently to lift them off the bottom of the table but there was no hiding from the enormity of the task facing Cooke in the weeks ahead.

Warrington Rylands: 1 Luke Pilling, 2 Clive Smith, 3 Javid Swaby-Neavin, 4 James Neild, 5 Matt Regan, 6 Dean Furman (14 James Butler 65m), 7 Joe Adams (12 Ben Hough 65m), 8 Ben Hardcastle (17 James Baillie 70m), 9 Djavan Pedro, 10 Mo Touray, 11 Adama Sidibeh. Unused Subs 15 Chineda Uche, 16 Owen German

Stafford: 1 Cam Belford, 2 Sam Bird, 3 Ian Kamga (16 Ben Woods 81m), 4 Jake Moult, 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 Andy Burns, 7 Taylor McMahon (12 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 46m), 8 Simon Njaria, 9 Nathan Blissett (14 Niah Payne 58m), 10 Joe Willis, 11 Kaiman Anderson. Unused Subs: 13 Ethan Endacott, 15 Jay Ford

Referee: Ryan Aldred

Cautions: Pilling, Hardcastle (Warrington); McMahon, Njaria, Willis (Rangers)

Att: 391

Report by Chris Elsley