Grant Goodhead returns for Rangers

Stafford Rangers will welcome a new defender to their ranks for training – even after drawing a blank in their bid to bring in a centre-back on loan.

Manager Greg Clowes had hoped to sign a stopper from a Blue Square Premier club on transfer deadline day yesterday and, today, those teams may not be willing to let players go.

But the Rangers boss will have Grant Goodhead back for training tonight, having yet to work with him since taking over as manager in the summer.

Goodhead has missed all of pre-season and the start of the campaign with a badly broken big toe and, although he is way short of match fitness, his return is a boost.

Rangers have shipped nine goals in their last two Evo-Stik Northern League games and Clowes is looking to shake things up at the back.

He said: "Grant is different to what we have got, he's one of those that sees the ball and wins the ball, he can be untidy at times but he's effective.

"What I have found in this league is that the centre-halves are not pretty - they clear their lines and that's it.

"They put their head on to things, we are not doing that and, unfortunately, we are not getting away with it either."

Rangers will go back to basics tonight after two defensive horror shows, negating a record of five goals conceded in their previous four games.

But, at the other end, the team dramatically improved in a 3-3 draw and 5-4 defeat against Whitby and Hednesford respectively, after finding the net just once in the league before that.

Clowes said: "The frustrating thing is that we seem to have put one thing right and then got something else completely wrong.

"We will be working on stopping crosses coming in tonight because it's not as if teams are cutting us to bits, we are just getting caught on crosses.

"But it's whether they put them into action on Saturday. As soon as they get over that white line, it's down to them to put into practice.

"To me, the teams in this league that defend properly at centre-half will be the teams that do well."