Rangers face fixture pile up

Stafford face a fixture pile-up after another game fell foul of the weather at Alfreton in the Setanta Shield.

Rangers learned the news at 3:30pm yesterday, just 45 minutes before they were due to hit the road to face their Blue Square North rivals.

It is the second game in four days to fall foul of the weather, after an already dreaded 202-mile trip to Gateshead was postponed on Saturday.

It is hoped the Alfreton game can be rescheduled for next Tuesday, in between the weekend game against Blyth Spartans at Marston Road and the trip to Droylsden on Saturday week.

The club are also to ask the league if the Gateshead game can be put on hold 'indefintely,' until a free Saturday emerges to stage the game.

First-team coach Darren Read said: "The players have jobs and it is unfair to rescheduled a trip like Gateshead to midweek, when it was due to take place on a Saturday.

"The enforced break is not helping. The lads just want to kick on and get results under their belts. But there is no one we can blame apart from the weather."