It was a drama filled afternoon at Marston Road as Stafford Rangers kicked off the new season in style

First half

The opening exchanges of the first half were very scrappy with both teams looking to win the battle for possession, after a few minutes of long balls it was Rangers who seemed to get the ball down and play some good attacking football. Morpeth seemed to be slow out of the blocks and took a while to get going.

In the 21st minute Rangers made the breakthrough when a long throw from Thomas Tonks was met by Joseph Kenton to make it 1-0 to Rangers. Morpeth failed to really respond to going a goal down with Rangers having numerous chances to extend their lead, fair play to the Morpeth keeper Daniel Lowson who made some great saves to keep it 1-0 going into the break.

Second half

Morpeth needed to respond in the second half having been second best for much of the first. However, things got worse for them when their captain, Wayne Phillips, was sent off following a really late tackle on Joseph Kenton. With Morpeth down to 10 men that meant a change in shape for them which almost saw them secure a point following an 82nd min goal from number 6 Chris Reid. Rangers pushed forward going into the last minutes of the game and Joseph Kenton sent the crowd absolutely wild following an 89th minute winner for Rangers. New signing Luca Nuvaro made it 3-1 in the 92nd minute.

3-1 FT

Report completed by Luke Buckley