Stafford Rangers 2 Matlock 4 - Report

The Gladiators came out of the Northern Premier League battle the better, taking three points home to Derbyshire and inflicting the second home defeat on the Rangers this season.

This defeat is the Rangers’ second in a row after a loss to Workington last Saturday and Stafford sink to 17th place in the league.

Likewise to last season’s encounter when they opened the scoring within 13 seconds, Matlock enjoyed a great start at the Stan Robinson Stadium, finding the net in the fourth minute through Jonathan Margetts. The forward pounced after the home side failed to clear and stroked home the opener into the bottom-right corner.

The Rangers became resurgent looking for a reply, as Joe Willis volleyed wide while skipper Alex-Ray Harvey and fellow midfielder Aaron Braithwaite were denied.

Full-back Sam Bird then earnt Stafford their chance to get level, finding himself tripped by a trailing leg from Ewan Catt in the penalty box. Kaiman Anderson converted from the spot, firing down the middle, and levelled the end-to-end game.

Chaos proceeded as Ewan Catt shot wide and Braithwaite saw his effort deflected just over the bar. On the half-hour mark a defensive error nearly cost Matlock dearly with Braithwaite able to burst through on goal, but the midfielder couldn’t convert liekwise to Niah Payne moments later. Saul Deeney saved Payne’s effort from close-range fantastically to keep it at one-a-piece.

The game was then turned on its head as Cameron Belford saw red for the Rangers. The keeper came out to meet a ball forward and clashed with Harry Wakefield, but had his studs up as the pair came together.

This earnt Matlock a spot kick, and saw midfielder Jake Moult take the gloves for Stafford due to Matt Hill opting to have no goalkeeper feature on his substitutes bench. Moult watched Margett’s penalty fly past him as the forward grabbed his and Matlock’s second in an extraordinary turn of events.

Soon after the break it went from bad to worse for the home side, as Margetts grabbed his hattrick with a sumptuous chip over Moult in goal. The stand-in keeper could’ve been closer to his line, but there was no stopping the forwards effort.

Joe Willis tried his luck from afar and wasn’t far off the top-left corner before Harry Wakefield struck the fourth past Moult and all but assured defeat for the Rangers. Wakefield found the bottom left corner as Moult watched it roll past him.

Joe Willis salvaged one back for the Rangers, firing in his first Northern Premier League goal for the Rangers after a goalmouth scramble. But, it was hardly the start of a comeback. Despite a spirited performance and big-shift from the Rangers they fell to defeat and face Atherstone Town next in the FA Cup.

Attendance: 743