Rangers welcome breather
In the dire situation Stafford Rangers find themselves in this season, every little helps.
In the dire situation Stafford Rangers find themselves in this season, every little helps.
A tiny sliver of silver lining from their FA Cup thrashing at Cambridge on Tuesday gives the Marston Road outfit a fortnight's breather to assess the damage done to their primary objective - retaining their Blue Square Premier status.
Their record thus far makes grim reading - only one win from 17 matches before tomorrow's visit of Exeter, just eight points on the board and eight points adrift of safety.
Next weekend will be a blank for Rangers as the BSP clubs who made it through the final qualifier take their places in the first round of the FA Cup.
Manager Phil Robinson said: "After the Exeter game we're going to monitor the situation closely, assess the casualty list and make a decision next week about how we're going to go about our training schedule."
There are plenty of casualties for the manager to assess - in fact Rangers whole campaign has been a litany of injury and illness, starting with Nathan Talbott before a ball had been kicked and hitting a new low this week as Marco Adaggio went into hospital for an operation.
"We expect him to be out for four to six weeks. He has cartilage damage to the knee," said Robinson.
"Marco had been having a fine season and I have been really impressed with him. We are definitely going to miss him."
The teenage striker was hurt winning the penalty - scored by Neil Grayson - which earned Rangers a Cup replay at Cambridge.
It turned out to be a poisoned chalice - Rangers crashed 5-1 and player-coach Dave Oldfield joined the casualty list with a pulled hamstring.
"It was the classic midweek game that catches the part-time teams like us out," said Robinson.
"Cambridge had the luxury of two days rest and preparation, we had players working up until Tuesday lunchtime after a tough Saturday and thinking about having to get up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning to go to work again. It caught up with us.
"It is a difficult task (for part time clubs), but we survived last season and we can do it again. It's a task that we're relishing.
"I have been pleased with our performances in the league lately. Although we always set out to try to win games, a point is better than nothing if you can't.
"We are making progress and picking up points, albeit slowly, but we are trying to turn those draws into victories.
"We're still working hard to get players in."
Rangers next action is a "must-win" away game against fellow strugglers Droylsden - the side Rangers beat in a penalty shoot-out to gain promotion to non-League's top flight.
