Stafford Rangers v Radcliffe
The threat of relegation took a step closer to reality for Stafford Rangers as they were outclassed by a Radcliffe side who enhanced their own credentials as favourites to lift the NPL title.
Rangers were without central defender Isaac Lee who is on loan from Radcliffe and unable to play against his own club, meaning a re-shuffle at the back with Andy Burns moving inside to partner Ethan Stewart while George Burroughs came in at right back.
But what was a tough task before kick off, became even harder when the visitors took the lead after just 8 minutes. Josh Hancock picked out Jude Oyibo on the left and his deep cross was met by the head Anthony Dudley at the back post. Despite his best efforts, Cam Belford was unable to stop the ball creeping inside his left hand post.
With Rangers struggling to find the net this season – they are the lowest scorers in the league – it was more or less game over on 12 minutes when Radcliffe eased into a 2-0 lead. Jordan Hulme created the opening when he turned to get away from Burns and Stewart. The ball ran to Matt Sargent who was given all the time he needed to pick his spot.
Sensing a rout, Dudley tried his luck with a casual shot from 35 yards but he failed to find the target.
A poor touch from A-Jay Leitch-Smith cost him a chance to reduce the arrears as he was forced to poke at the ball and the Radcliffe defence was able to block.
A third Radcliffe goal looked on the cards just past the half hour mark but Belford made an excellent stop to keep out Hulme before the follow up from Rick Smith was blocked – possibly by Stewart – and Olly Thornley saw his shot deflected wide for a corner.
The let off was brief and the inevitable came on the 42 minute. Connor Heath lost possession in midfield, Oyibo centred from the left and although Hancock’s shot was well saved by Belford, Dudley hooked in the rebound.
The half finished with Brad Jackson curling one just wide from distance while Burns deflected a shot from Hancock over the bar with the last kick before the interval.
With the points in the bag, Radcliffe continued to control the game after the break but without the same sense of purpose as they had in the first half.
But the best opportunities still fell to the table toppers and Belford had to save well from Lois Maynard who had a free header from Nicky Adams’ corner.
Oyibo troubled Stafford all afternoon and he nearly set up Hulme with a goal following a break on the left but Jack Stafford was on hand to intercept.
Rangers had a couple of free kicks in the final 20 minutes but Sean Cooke was unable to force keeper Matteusz Hewelt in to action on another disappointing day for the Stafford camp.
Stafford Rangers: 1 Cam Belford, 2 George Burroughs, 3 Jack Stafford, 4 Joe Willis, 5 Ethan Stewart (12 Jimmy O’Neill 88m), 6 Andy Burns, 7 A-Jay Leitch-Smith, 8 Owen German, 9 Kaiman Anderson, 10 Sean Cooke, 11 Connor Heath (15 Tyreece Onyeka 61m). Unused Subs: 13 Jack Sandel, 14 Ben Woods, 16 Lewis Porter
Radcliffe: 1 Mateusz Hewelt, 2 Brad Jackson (17 Jake Thompson 68m), 3 Jude Oyibo, 4 Lois Manyard, 5 Olly Thornley, 6 Rick Smith (15 Sean Tse 49m), 7 Matt Sargent, 8 Nicky Adams, 9 Jordan Hulme (16 Ewan Bange 82m), 10 Anthony Dudley, 11 Josh Hancock. Unused Subs 12 Luca Navarro, 14 Jamie Morgan
Referee: Gareth Davis
Cautions: Stafford, Willis (Stafford), Jackson, Hulme (Radcliffe)
Att: 592
Report by Chris Elsley
Stafford Rangers v Guiseley AFC
Stafford Rangers’s fans have had little to shout about this season but this victory over play off hopefuls Guiseley will give them hope that their favourites can avoid relegation from the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
Rangers will have taken heart from the point gained at Hyde United a week earlier and went into the game with the same starting XI. The only change was on the substitute’s bench where George Burroughs replaced Niah Payne who has moved to Ossett United on loan.
On a bright sunny afternoon, the Boro made a bright start and both Sean Cooke and Isaac Lee had shots blocked – the latter’s effort seemingly by the hands of Luke Mariette but referee Richard Walker wasn’t interested. The man in black had a difficult afternoon trying to control a physical match but did himself few favours.
Joe Willis also tried his luck on goal from just outside the Guiseley penalty area and Oliver Battersby was forced to go low to his left to turn the ball out for a corner.
Having kept Rangers out during the opening spell, Guiseley went close through Jameel Ibel who fired just over. The visitors settled into the game and controlled play for long periods although they were restricted to just a couple of clear chances which saw Kallan Murphy denied by an excellent save from Cam Belford and Michael Afuye shoot across the face of the Stafford goal.
Guiseley created the first opportunity of the second half but Belford stuck out a foot to keep out Reece Kendall’s shot.
Throughout the first half, Stafford striker Kaiman Anderson had been manhandled every time he went anywhere near the ball but he finally managed to get away from Ible to latch on to a pass from Ben Woods although, moving away from goal, he sent his shot over the bar.
Woods was the man on the mark as Rangers opened the scoring on 55 minutes with the midfielder sliding in to convert a low centre from Connor Heath.
Aiden Walker tried to divert a long range free kick past Belford but the Stafford keeper was alert to the danger.
At the other end, Anderson got away from Ible again only to send his rising shot just over the Guiseley bar.
Guiseley sent on Gabriel Johnson and Tom Denton and, with five minutes of normal time remaining, the two front men combined to bring the scores level. Johnson crossed from the left and the latter used his height advantage to steer his header past Belford.
With both sides in need of points to maintain their fight at the respective ends of the table, the game remained open.
Tyreece Onyeka looked set to grab a winner only to be denied by a well timed challenge from Jordi Nsaka in the Guiseley area.
But the winner did come. Two minutes in to added time, Onyeka – on for Heath – found space on the right and sent in a low ball which Ible failed to deal with. Guiseley keeper Battersby could only parry and Anderson reacted quickest to fire into the roof of the net.
The referee played an additional ten minutes of added time, during which Guiseley’s Leigh Whelan fired over after seeing Belford make a goal line stop from his initial effort.
Rangers held on to complete their first win of 2024 and close the gap to safety to just three points.
Stafford Rangers: 1 Cam Belford, 2 Andy Burns, 3 Jack Stafford, 4 Owen German, 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 Isaac Lee, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Joe Willis, 9 Kaiman Anderson, 10 Sean Cooke (15 George Burroughs 90+5m), 11 Connor Heath (14 Tyreece Onyeka 77m). Unused Subs: 12 A-Jay Leitch-Smith, 13 Jack Sandel, 16 Lewis Porter
Guiseley: 1 Oliver Battersby, 2 Oliver Brown (17 Jordi Nsaka 46m), 3 Reece Kendall, 4 Leigh Whelan, 5 Aiden Walker, 6 Jameel Ibel, 7 Oluwagbenga (Michael) Afuye (15 Tom Denton 66m), 8 Prince Ekpolo, 9 Kallan Murphy, 10 Luke Mariette, 11 Kofi Moore (Gabriel Johnson 56m). Unused Subs 12 Liam Tonge, 16 Adam Dawson
Referee: Richard Walker
Cautions: Cam Belford, German, Lee, Cooke, Dale Belford (Stafford), Walker, Murphy, Tongue (Guiseley)
Att: 588
Report by Chris Elsley
Stafford Rangers v Kidsgrove Athletic
With two blank Saturday’s behind them, Stafford Rangers arranged a friendly against Kidsgrove Athletic.
The Stafford side included two new faces with Jack Stafford and Owen German on show. It was later disclosed that the third new signing George Burroughs, was absent due to illness. Although still registered as a Stafford player, Ethan Morgan took his place on the right hand side for Kidsgrove.
Kaiman Anderson missed an early opportunity to put Stafford in front when he headed over from close range.
Kidsgrove’s first clear opening came 10 minutes later as Cam Belford was forced to tip over.
It was the visitors who took the lead on 20 minutes via a penalty from Aaron Bott after Belford had brought down Anthony Malbon.
A poor challenge on Joe Willis from one of the Kidsgrove midfielder’s saw the rare sight of a yellow card being shown in a friendly fixture.
Sean Cooke saw a fierce drive deflected wide for a corner but he was the man who grabbed the equaliser on the half hour when he went through the middle to slot past the visiting keeper.
But Kidsgrove went back in front a couple of minutes before the break. After a good build up Belford saved well but the ball ran to Bott who notched his second goal of the game.
With no substitutes available, Kidsgrove were reduced to 10 players when Tyrone Cadeau limped off. They got back to even numbers on the hour mark when a member of the Kidsgrove staff appeared in full kit but within seconds his side were a man down again as Malbon decided his game was up.
The game lost any degree of competitiveness in the closing stages. Rangers levelled on 72 minutes when Connor Heath benefitted from a poor ball out of defence.
Against his old club, Lewis Porter put Stafford in front on 81 minutes after good play from Cooke although Porter had looked marginally offside.
The scoring was completed on 88 minutes when Joe Willis made it 4-2 via the inside of the post.
One other notable feature of the night was a run out for Jimmy O’Neill who has been missing all season due to injury.
Stafford: 1 Cam Belford (13 Jack Sandel 77m), 2 Andy Burns (17 Jimmy O’Neill 77m), 3 Jack Stafford (14 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 63m), 4 Tyreece Onyeka (12 Ben Woods 46m), 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 Isaac Lee, 7 Joe Willis, 8 Kaiman Anderson (16 Connor Heath 46m) 9 Nathan Blissett (15 Lewis Porter 46m), 10 Sean Cooke, 11 Owen German
Kidsgrove: – No Line Up supplied
Referee: Jamie Code
Att: 130
Report by Chris Elsley
Stafford Rangers v Ilkeston Town
The start of 2024 is threatening to replicate the start of 2023 as Stafford Rangers point-less start to the year continued with defeat at home to Ilkeston Town.
Rangers lost their opening five games of last year and Saturday’s result made it four from four in 2024. To make matters worse, Rangers are yet to score a goal in this year.
With manager Dave Cooke missing the game due to undergoing an operation, Dale Belford took charge and there was a surprise with the omission of Jake Moult from the squad. Loan signing Isaac Lee came in to the centre of defence. Simon Njaria also dropped out of the starting line up.
Ilkeston created the first chances with Tom Cursons putting in a shot straight at Cam Belford and stabbing another opportunity over the cross bar.
Rangers looked a more determined outfit than of late and, having withstood the early attacks from the visitors, started to create their own chances with the best falling to Sean Cooke who chipped over the bar from 25 yards.
Rangers got bodies in the area but Ilkeston defended in numbers, none more so when Kaiman Anderson was crowded out while desperately trying to find space.
Ilkeston finished the half on top. Belford was forced to make a couple of saves – going low to his left to keep out a dipping volley from Dec Eratt-Thompson then denying Curson once more while Anderson found himself in a defensive role to block shots. From these, Rangers launched a counter attack through Tyreece Onyka but neither Cooke nor Connor Hughes could get a clear shot on goal.
Right on the stroke of half time, Ilkeston’s Luke Cox headed wide when he should have hit the target.
Half chances came and went at both ends before Heath missed out on a golden opportunity for Rangers. He latched on to a through ball from Ethan Stewart and did well to beat two visiting defenders to go clear on goal. With just the keeper to beat, Heath was unable to execute the task. The unfortunate Onyeka had no time to react to the rebound as it bounced off him and Sam Parker cleared off the line.
It was following another Rangers attack that Ilkeston opened the scoring on 61 minutes. Eratt-Thompson attacked out of defence and found Cursons unmarked on the left hand side of the area. Belford parried the first shot but couldn’t do anything to stop Cursons’ follow up.
The clock ticked past the six hour mark since Rangers had last scored a goal and the wait was to continue. Nathan Blissett came on for A-Jay Leitch-Smith and almost scored a spectacular equaliser with an attempted over-head kick but he failed to get a clean contact with the ball. Soon after Stewart had a header blocked and Lee’s follow up was deflected wide by Cox.
With 11 minutes remaining, the visitors made sure of the points when Cursons found space to score his second of the afternoon.
Jamie Walker failed with a couple of chances to add to his side’s tally while Njaria missed Stafford’s best opportunity for a consolation when he headed wide – he should have done better.
Stafford: 1 Cam Belford, 2 Andy Burns, 3 Zak Kempster-Down, 4 Joe Willis, 5 Ethan Stewart, 6 Isaac Lee, 7 Tyreece Onyeka, 8 A-Jay Leitch-Smith (16 Nathan Blissett 70m), 9 Kaiman Anderson, 10 Sean Cooke (17 Simon Njaria 70m), 11 Connor Heath (15 Ben Woods 79m). Unused Subs: 12 Niah Payne 14 Kingston Fligg
Ilkeston: 1 Matt Yates, 2 James Perch, 3 Sam Parker, 4 Dec Eratt-Thompson, 5 Tom Marshall, 6 Luke Cox, 7 L’Varn Brandy (12 Larell King 89m), 8 Callum Minkley, 9 Alex Marshall (14 Liam Loughlin 64m), 10 Jamie Walker, 11 Tom Cursons. Unused Subs: 13 Mitchell Leivers, 15 Kody Eratt-Thompson, 16 Ben Hutchinson
Referee: Lewis Smith
Cautions: Burns (Stafford) Parker, Eratt-Thompson (Ilkeston)
Att: 645
Report by Chris Elsley
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