Bull fury whetted by win

Stafford Rangers manager Steve Bull admitted he would have been "absolutely furious" if his team had not won their second pre-season friendly at Halesowen.

3-1 to the good and cruising after 32 minutes, Stafford looked to be in control, only for Halesowen to pull it back to 3-3 in a frantic first-half at the Grove.

A speculative ball from Alex Gibson sailed into the net in the second half to see that Rangers got their first pre-season win at the second attempt but defensively, they were far from convincing.

Centre-back duo Stuart Pierpoint and Nick Amos, who were in Hednesford colours last season, were given a particularly torrid time, which less than pleased Bull.

He said: "They dug themselves out of a hole a bit. If we hadn't won the game, I would be hauling the lot of them in for defensive training.

"At 3-1 we should have kicked on and won more convincingly. We shouldn't have been going in at half-time level."

Bully again opted for a 3-5-2 formation with wing-backs but, with Ishamel Reid away on holiday, he decided to use another pairing completely.

Alex Gibson, who scored the winner, and Les Hines were used, mainly to test different players in a formation that the manager is looking increasingly likely to use next season.

He said: "Alex and Les did well and I am using different players as wing-backs so I can see how many different options I will have, hence Andre Francis was on the bench.

"I have not ruled out signing players to fill those two slots. I have not fully decided what to do yet, because there will be more players coming in.

"But it is fair to say that I believe a 3-5-2 with wing-backs is the way to go."