Wythenshawe Town v Stafford Rangers

REPORT

Stafford Rangers bounced back from their midweek defeat to beat fellow strugglers, Wythenshawe Town

After taking a two goal lead, Rangers had to dig deep when the home side reduced the arrears and Stafford defender Scott Wara was sent off in a two minute spell just before the hour mark.

Goalkeeper Cam Belford and striker Dan Cockerline were both missing through injury but Callum King-Harmes was back after being unavailable due to work commitments. Leon Phillips came in on a dual registration from Tamworth to replace Belford while Ackeme Francis-Burrell made his first start with Jack Burgess dropping to the subs bench.

Rangers made a bright start and should have taken the lead inside 5 minutes when Kaiman Anderson put the ball over from close range after Wara had flicked on Jimmy O’Neill’s throw.

Another O’Neill throw saw King-Harmes lay off to James McQuilkin but he drove just wide.

Wythenshawe settled and came into the game with Jacob Blyth putting his effort wide while Phillips saved well to his left to keep out a shot from the experienced George Boyd.

A keenly contested battle looked set to be heading to the half time break all square but, a minute in to added time, a poor back pass from Domaine Rouse gifted Anderson an opening and, although Greg Hall did his best to intervene, the Rangers’ striker kept his feet to give his side the lead.

After John Atherton had missed a chance to add to the score early in the second half, King-Harmes doubled the lead on 51 minutes when he beat four defenders as he cut in from the right and fired low beyond the reach of Hall’s left hand.

But, it then looked to all be going wrong for Rangers as Wara was sent off for picking up two yellow cards in three minutes – his third dismissal of the season. Sandwiched in between was Wythenshawe’s goal on 56 minutes.

Phillips could only parry a deflected free kick from Chinedu Uche and, in the scramble that followed, Ben O’Hanlon’s attempted clearance ended up in his own net.

But Rangers should have restored their two goal gap soon after when Atherton put Anderson through. The Rangers’ striker did well to hold off the challenge of Rouse but scooped his shot high over the Wythenshawe cross bar with just the keeper to beat.

The final half hour saw Rangers defend deep as they put numbers behind the ball and Wythenshawe only had limited chances fall their way. Fenton Green fired high over while Blyth lost control at a key moment as he threatened to get through on goal.

The nearest Wythenshawe came to spoiling the day was in stoppage time. McQuilkin deflected Rodney Ajayi’s shot into the side netting and from the following corner the Rangers’ midfielder headed off the line in a goalmouth scramble.

Wythenshawe Town: 1 Gregory Hall, 2 Sam Sheridan, 3 Matthew Liptrot, 4 Domaine Rouse (17 Jacques Etia 84m), 5 Emmanuel Omorogbe, 6 Fenton Green, 7 Luke Nock (14 Sajjad Elhassan 72m), 8 Rodney Ajayi (16 Trey Turner 90+4m), 9 Jacob Blyth (15 Martijn Earl Smith 84m), 10 George Boyd, 11 Chinedu Uche Unused Subs 12 Lukas Jacobsen-Murphy

Stafford Rangers: 1 Leon Phillips, 2 Andy Burns, 3 Ben O’Hanlon, 4 Michael McGrath, 5 Scott Wara, 6 James O’Neill, 7 Callum King-Harmes, 8 Ackeme Francis-Burrell (17 Joe Morley 81m), 9 Kaiman Anderson (16 Joe Thomas 87m), 10 James McQuilkin, 11 John Atherton (12 Jack Burgess 67m). Unused Subs 14 Ashley Fallon, 15 Liam Brazier

Referee: Daniel Bruce

Cautions: Hall, Sheridan, Liptrot, Ajayi (Wythenshawe); McGrath (Stafford)

Sent Off: Wara – two cautions (Stafford)

Attendance: 345

Report by Chris Elsley