Witton Albion v Stafford Rangers

REPORT

Stafford Rangers were beaten by Witton Albion on a sunny afternoon in Cheshire.

Although they had plenty of opportunities, Rangers failed to match their performance levels of recent weeks and the quality of their play was below standard.

For the third consecutive game, Dale Belford named the same starting XI with the only squad changes being the return of Dylan Barkers and Jacob Edwards to the subs bench at the expense of Sean Lawton and Luca Whitney.

Rangers started brightly and Scott Wara headed just over after just one minute of play as Jimmy O’Neill sent in one of his long throws.

Witton soon came in to it and cleared a chance for Reece Daly but he sent his shot high over the bar and into the car park at the back of the ground. Another chance for Daly, midway through the half, was headed over the bar.

In between these two efforts for the Witton number 11, Rangers had two good chances of their own in the space of a minute. The first fell to Kaiman Anderson but home keeper Ellis Allen came out quickly to block then Dan Cockerline hooked a volley just over following Joe Morley’s knock back.

Rangers created numerous half chances throughout the afternoon, but headers from Cockerline and Wara didn’t really trouble Allen while Jimmy O’Neill sent his wide of the target.

Rangers had a scare just after the half hour mark when Cam Belford raced out of his area when Wealth DaSilva was sent clear. Belford clattered into the Witton forward but escaped with just a yellow card. Owen German overhit the subsequent free kick.

Mamadou Djabi clipped another good chance over the Stafford bar but Witton went in to the half time break with a 43rd minute lead after O’Neill’s efforts to cut out DaSilva’s low centre only resulted in him turning the ball into his own net.

Rangers again began well after the restart as Cockerline forced Allen to tip over while Wara couldn’t manage to find the freedom to get a clean strike as he was crowded out 6 yards from goal.

Anderson also missed out when he dragged his shot wide and saw another deflected wide.

Witton had been kept quiet but were given a chance to double their lead midway through the half when Andy Burns was penalised for hand ball. Daly stepped up by Belford went right and pushed the spot kick away to safety.

On 71 minutes, Witton replaced Da Silva with James Hooper within a couple of minutes, the sub had found the back of the net with a good strike from around 25 yards after he had been allowed to cut in from the right.

Hooper’s involvement was to be effective but brief and soon after he was hobbling off injured.

Rangers kept searching for a way back in to the game but were unable to break the Witton back line.

Witton Albion: 1 Ellis Allen, 2 Mike Koral, 3 Lee Jackson, 4 Oliver Hitchcox, 5 Callum Grogan, 6 Joel Bailey, 7 Isaac Graham (16 Harry McGee 59m), 8 Owen German, 9 Mamadou Djabi, 10 Wealth Da Silva (14 James Hooper 71m (12 Elliot Rokka 77m)), 11 Reece Daly (15 Owen Cushion 83m). Unused Sub 17 James Salkeld.

Stafford Rangers: 1 Cameron Belford, 2 Andy Burns, 3 Ben O’Hanlon (12 Jack Burgess 70m), 4 Ashley Fallon (15 Sean Cooke 83m), 5 Jimmy O’Neill, 6 Scott Wara, 7 John Atherton (16 Stanley Anaebonam 38m), 8 James McQuilkin , 9 Dan Cockerline , 10 Kaiman Anderson, 11 Joe Morley (18 Jacob Edwards 84m) Unused Subs 14 Dylan Barkers

Referee: Joe Cunningham

Cautions: C Belford (Stafford)

Attendance: 521

Report by Chris Elsley