Whitby Town 0   Stafford Rangers 0

Evo-Stik Northern Premier League

Saturday 4 November 2017

Rangers picked up a hard earned point with a goal-less draw at Whitby Town.

There wasn’t much between the two sides in a somewhat scrappy first half though it was the Boro who were creating the better chances, all of which fell to Massiah McDonald.

The first, created after good work from Richard Gregory and Sam Griffiths, flashed past McDonald’s boot just a couple of feet from an empty net.

Towards the end of the half, the Stafford striker fired just wide from 20 yards after a good lay off from Gregory while Louis Briscoe’s ball into the box a minute later was just too far ahead of its target.

For Whitby, the best chance fell to Connor Smith midway through the half when he drilled just wide after Rangers had failed to clear a cross while John Campbell’s free kick deflected wide off team mate Kieran Weledji.

McDonald had another great chance for Rangers early in the second half when Gregory’s header put him behind the Whitby back line but he was denied by Ryan Whitley. Shortly after, Kieran Morris headed straight at the Whitby keeper.

But the last half hour saw Whitby step up the pressure and Rangers had a major let off when keeper Brad Caswell dropped a routine free kick at the feet of Niall McGoldrick but Matthew Tymon needlessly added a finishing touch and was flagged offside.

A Jack Sherratt snap shot just cleared the Whitby bar but the home side looked the most likely to break the deadlock and Caswell made amends for his earlier error with an excellent save to keep out Tymon with the home fans already celebrating what looked a certain goal.

Caswell then denied John Campbell who got behind the Boro while James Risborough should have done better with two chances that came his way.

But Rangers could have won it themselves late on with both Dan Westwood and Sam Griffiths going close but a draw was a fair outcome.

Whitby: 1 Ryan Whitley, 2 Callum Martin, 3 Daniel McWilliams, 4 Luke Bytheay, 5 Niall McGoldrick, 6 Andrew May, 7 Steven Snaith, 8 Adam Gell, 9 John Campbell (15 James Risborough 84m), 10 Kieran Weledji (17 Matthew Tymon 56m), 11 Connor Smith. Unused subs 12 Anthony Hume, 14 Andrew Monkhouse, 16 Kyle Fryatt

Rangers: 1 Brad Caswell, 2 Sam Griffiths, 3 Kieren Westwood, 4 Kieran Morris, 5 Mat Bailey, 6 Jordaan Brown, 7 Josh Craddock, 8 Alex Fletcher, 9 Richard Gregory (12 Dan Westwood 73m), 10 Massiah McDonald (14 Izak Reid 86m), 11 Louis Briscoe (16 Jack Sherratt 70m). Unused subs: 15 Joe Thomas, 17 Kai Davis

Cautions: None

Ref: Michael Andrews

Att: 303

Chris Elsley