Rangers boost for kids

Work has just been completed building the 1,770 covered, all-seater Mick Bell Stand, along with a covered terrace on the Club End to take the Marston Road capacity up by 1,000 to 5,000.

The £75,000 project, which took five months to complete, means Rangers' ground now meets with Conference standards, after the league's grading committee gave the stadium their approval this week.

Rangers now boast 2,300 seats, with all four sides of the ground now covered.

Now the club plan to attract more fans by handing out free admission to under-12s for the games against Crawley tomorrow, York on April 14, Northwich Victoria on April 17 and Forest Green on April 28.

"There were two issues why we needed to do this work," said chairman Jon Downing.

"One, the ground is very old and needed a lot of upgrading, and two, the main issue was to meet the criteria of the Conference grading committee, who gave us the green light.

"Our league position is reasonably safe, but a lot depends on our last six games and myself and the manager, Phil Robinson, would like to get as many people as possible inside the ground to create a cracking atmosphere between now and the end of the season.

"To this end, we'd like to attract the next generation of supporters by offering free admission to under-12s, providing they are accompanied by a parent.

"We want the whole town to get behind us because the players thrive on vocal support.

"I'd love to fill the ground, but even 2,000 would be nice."

Both structures run the full length of the pitch and the Mick Bell Stand is some 15 rows deep.

"We already had category B grading for 3,500 people, but we had to add another 1,000 to upgrade to category A," added Downing.