Stafford 1 Fleetwood 2

Steve Bull was left scratching his head after another Marston Road flop by his Rangers side.

This was their third home defeat on the bounce and however well Rangers are performing away, their own paying customers continue to suffer.

Not for the first time, either, Rangers were embarrassed by a side languishing in the bottom half of the Blue Square North.

Newly-promoted Fleetwood have no pretensions about going any higher just yet, but their lean and mean side had Rangers on the back foot for most of the game.

Looking for a crumb of comfort in the fact that Rangers did manage to score a home league goal for the first time in over two months is futile – it was an own goal!

Bizarrely, it cancelled out an own goal from Rangers defender Bobby Wilson, whose outstretched leg managed to turn Kevin Leadbetter's seventh-minute centre into his own net.

Barely five minutes later, with Rangers buzzing for a quick reply, Jake Moult's cross was headed over his own keeper by Matt Kay.

It was the stroke of good fortune Bull had been praying for recently, but his players failed miserably to cash in.

Jimmy Phillips and Carl Palmer failed to make the most of a couple of half chances in the first half and only Danny Alcock's stunning save from Kay stopped Rangers falling behind just after half-time.

Their luck ran out with ten minutes to go as substitute Steve Foster struck.

Only then did Rangers come to life and they could easily have saved the game but for keeper Danny Hurst's save from Palmer's header, Holland clearing Tom Ingram's shot off the line and Richard Mercer somehow stopping David McNiven from scoring.

All that served only to underline how badly the team had been under-performing for 80 minutes. This wasn't about missed chances, it was about application and just about everything else.

Rangers: Alcock, Pierpoint, Cullingworth, Moult (82 Proffitt), Daniel, Wilson, Palmer, Grocott, McNiven, MacPherson (64 Ingram), Phillips.

Referee: J Cox (Evesham).

Attendance: 529.