Pitching In Northern Premier League
Saturday 23 April 2022

Stafford Rangers ended their Northern Premier League season on a high with a 5-0 thrashing of Ashton United, a result that secured them an eighth place finish.

Rangers dominated from start to finish and after Tom Tonks saw two efforts go wide of the target, they took a deserved lead on 14 mins.

A Tonks throw near the right hand corner flag was flicked on by Ashton’s Ben Hardcastle for Joe Kenton to tap in at the back post.

Two minutes later Kaiman Anderson back healed one over.

Joe Dunne walked through the Ashton defence only to be denied by a parried save by Ashton keeper Luke Taylor.

It was a baptism of fire for the debutant 17 year old but he could do little to stop Anderson making it 2-0 on 24 minutes with a close range finish after Tonks’ centre landed at his feet.

It was more or less game over two minutes later when Anderson put Tre Pemberton through to add the third.

It was nearly four when Kenton charged down Taylor’s attempted clearance but Anderson scuffed his shot.

Rangers’ keeper Tyrell Belford was only required to make one save during the afternoon but it was worth the admission fee alone as he went full stretch to his right to keep out Jordan Simpson’s volley.

James O’Neill hit the Ashton cross bar, Taylor saved from Tonks and Alex-Ray Harvey fired wide as Rangers had to settle for just the three goals by half time.

Shortly after the resumption, Taylor flapped away a Tonks free kick after Sam Baird had pulled back Anderson.

Ashton sub Tom Bentham found himself with a couple of half chances but headed one wide and volleyed the other over while Pababou Jenkins struck the bar with an overhead kick.

But it was Alex Fletcher who provided a fitting end to the afternoon five minutes from time when he fired in a 25 yard free kick for his first goal of the season.

Stafford Rangers: 1 Tyrell Belford, 2 Andrew Burns, 3 Joe Dunne, 4 Alex-Ray Harvey, 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 James O’Neill, 7 Joe Kenton, 8 Tom Tonks (12 Jed Abbey 64m), 9 Kaiman Anderson (14 Jake Charles 79m), 10 Alex Fletcher, 11 Tre Pemberton (15 Theo Bailey-Jones 73m). Unused Subs:16 Josh Endall, 17 Ben Woods

Ashton United: 1 Luke Taylor, 2 Harry Spratt, 3 Cole Lonsdale, 4 Ekow Coker, 5 Harry Coates (18 Thomas Bentham 41m), 6 Samuel Baird, 7 Jordan Simpson (12 Pababou Jenkins 46m), 8 Samuel Sheridan (14 Jack Donlan 72m), 9 Florian Yonsian, 10 Jack Redshaw, 11 Ben Hardcastle. Unused Subs 15 Nicky Hunt, 16 Nathan Ntalu

Cautions: None

Referee: Daniel Smith

Att: 607

Report: Chris Elsley