Staffs Senior Cup Final
Tuesday 24 April 2018
Stafford Rangers won the Staffordshire Senior Cup for the 12th time with a thrilling win over their arch rivals Hednesford Town at Stoke City’s Bet365 Stadium.
Adam Whitehouse – making his 200th appearance for the club – was in fine form, making a number of crucial saves to keep Rangers in the game. On a perfect playing surface, the final got off to a cautious opening 10 minutes with little of note apart from a late challenge from Robert Thompson-Brown on Hednesford left back Darren Campion that earned the Stafford man a caution.
Otherwise, the best Hednesford could come up with was an inswinging centre from Campion which was just too far ahead of front man Danny Glover while, for Stafford, a counter saw Massiah McDonald’s low centre cut out as Tyrell Waite looked set to pounce. But Rangers grabbed the advantage on 14 mins when Jack Sherratt picked up possession some 25 yards out and struck a sweet left footer in to the top left corner of the net. Hednesford keeper James Wren was unmoved.
Hednesford responded well putting Rangers under pressure with Whitehouse just getting his fingertips to a low drive from James Lawrie and Reece King heading the resulting corner on to the roof of the net. The unmarked Glover then looked set to fire home an equaliser when Anthony Dwyer’s centre found its way to him on the penalty spot but Whitehouse saved well with his legs.
Just after the half hour mark James Fitzgibbon’s shot glanced off the top of Jordaan Brown’s head after he had cut in from the right. Hednesford kept up the pressure from the resulting corner and the ball came out to Dwyer on the left hand side of the area he picked out his spot beyond Whitehouse’s left hand to level on 32 mins.
Although Kyle Perry went close to restoring Rangers’ lead a couple of minutes later, it was Hednesford who continued to look the most likely to add to the scoring and Whitehouse was called upon to keep the scores level when he saved from Glover. Ben Bailey headed over from the corner. But Rangers had a great chance to restore the lead just before half time when Perry glanced Thompson-Brown’s free kick goalwards forcing King to head off the line.
Hednesford were first to get a look in after the break when a poor pass in defence from Levi Reid put in Dwyer but once again Whitehouse came to Stafford’s rescue keeping out the shot with his legs. From the resulting corner Whitehouse kept out Glover’s close range effort with his feet. Dwyer mishit his shot following Lawrie’s free kick as the Pitmen continued to threaten but Rangers came back in to it as a Thompson-Brown free kick caused problems in the Hednesford area. Brown hit an air shot and Josh Craddock’s effort was deflected for a corner.
It was from Jack Sherratt’s 63rd minute flag kick that Rangers restored their lead – Perry powering home a close range header against his former club. Hednesford pressed for another equaliser. Whitehouse turned away a 20 yarder from Fitzgibbon then King sliced his effort well wide after the ball had sat up nicely for him – he should have done better.
With four minutes of normal time remaining Rangers won a free kick on the left hand side. Dead ball specialist Thompson-Brown swung it in with his right foot and the ball seemed to take a slight deflection off Bailey. It was the faintest of touches but enough to deceive James Wren and put Rangers 3-1 up.
The match wasn’t over yet. Hednesford pressed again and Bailey reduced the arrears in the first minute of added time when he slid in to convert Fitzgibbon’s low centre. The Pitmen weren’t finished. Wren came up for a couple of corners to no avail but when Whitehouse saved from Glover their final chance was gone and the Boro began their celebrations.
Stafford Rangers: 1 Adam Whitehouse, 2 Sam Griffiths, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Levi Reid (14 Kai Davis 66m), 5 Jordaan Brown, 6 Josh Craddock, 7 Tyrell Waite (15 Joe Thomas 90+5m), 8 Jack Sherratt, 9 Kyle Perry, 10 Robert Thompson-Brown, 11 Massiah McDonald (12 Osebi Abadaki 81m). Unused Subs: 16 Lucas Burnett, 17 Riley Stephenson
Hednesford Town: 1 James Wren, 2 Matt Curley, 3 Darren Campion, 4 Ben Bailey, 5 Callam Mendez-Jones, 6 Reece King (12 Joey Butlin 85m), 7 Anthony Dwyer, 8 Joe Fitzpatrick (14 Tom Thorley 65m), 9 Danny Glover, 10 James Lawrie, 11 James Fitzgibbon. Unused Subs: 15 Jack Rea, 16 Charlie Gatter, 17 Jose Veiga
Cautions: Thompson-Brown, Perry, McDonald (Rangers) Glover (Hednesford)
Referee: Scott Simpson
Att: 847
Report: Chris Elsley
