Evo-Stik Northern Premier League | Tuesday 9 October 2018
The opening 45 minutes were largely controlled by Farsley although they had nothing to show for their efforts and produced little to worry Whitehouse.
It took until midway through the half before either side managed a serious effort on goal but when it came Farsley’s Adam Clayton headed over. By that stage, Rangers had already faced one set back after injury forced captain Luke Jones off with Tom Marshall replacing him.
A couple of minutes after Clayton’s effort, James Spencer forced a save from Whitehouse with a low curler round the legs of the Stafford defenders then Clayton put another close-range header over. Spencer clipped a shot over from a tight angle and put another over when well-placed as Farsley continued to look the most likely to open the scoring.
Rangers’ best chances of the first 45 minutes both came in the form of 1 on 1s with visiting keeper Kyle Trenerry winning the contests against Joe Cuff and Tom Thorley respectively. Thorley became the second Rangers’ player to leave the action when he failed to return for the second half.
Cuff fired into the side netting soon after the resumption but was then guilty of losing possession to Chris Atkinson in a dangerous area. He was saved further embarrassment when Whitehouse kept out Ben Atkinson.
Farsley kept pressing and were eventually rewarded on 68 mins. Moments earlier, Luke Parkin had been denied by Whitehouse, but Rangers failed to defend the resulting corner. Marshall’s attempted clearance got no further than the edge of the area and Parkin wasn’t going to waste a second opportunity and drilled ball past Whitehouse.
Four minutes later, Coulson was caught in possession. Spencer found Ben Atkinson in space and Rangers were 2-0 down.
Heads dropped, and Spencer could have made it 3-0 when he headed at Whitehouse when unmarked.
Jake Charles injected a little bit of hope into the evening, marking his debut with a goal on 86 mins, when he ran on to a long ball from Sherratt and held off Jack Higgins before slotting past Trenerry.
Rangers suddenly sprung to life and for the first time in the game looked threatening. Marshall and Briscoe saw shots saved by Trenerry while Theo Bailey-Jones had a shot deflected inches wide. But, with Rangers making one last push, in the 5th minute of added time Farsley launched a classic counter following a Rangers’ corner. Whitehouse was isolated in the centre circle and, when he lost the tackle against Ben Atkinson, Spencer strolled through to complete the scoring.
Stafford: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Lewis Banks, 3 James Askey, 4 Luke Jones (16 Tom Marshall 23m), 5 Sam Coulson, 6 Louis Briscoe, 7 Theo Bailey-Jones, 8 Tom Thorley (14 Morgan James 46m), 9 Kyle Perry 15 Jake Charles 73m), 10 Jack Sherratt, 11 Joe Cuff. Unused Subs 12 Izak Reid, 17 Morgan Bacon (gk)
Farsley: 1 Kyle Trenerry, 2 Lewis Turner, 3 Isaac Baldwin, 4 Chris Atkinson, 5 Jack Higgins, 6 Adam Clayton, 7 Luke Parkin (12 Nathan Cartman 80m), 8 Ben Atkinson, 9 James Spencer, 10 Paul Walker, 11 Will Hayhurst. Unused Subs, 13 Ed Hall (gk), 14 George Horneshaw, 15 Matthias Britton, 16 Mark Bett
Cautions: Cuff (Rangers)
Referee: Steve Durnall
Att: 382
Report: Chris Elsley
It’s now four defeats on the bounce for Stafford Rangers who saw another series of errors prove costly against Farsley Celtic on Tuesday night. Back in goal for Rangers was Adam Whitehouse after the long serving keeper was dropped for the Scarborough match three days earlier. There were also recalls for James Askey, Sam Coulson, Jack Sherratt and Joe Cuff while Harrison Holgate was missing from the squad having been recalled by parent club Fleetwood Town.
