Gainsborough Trinity 2-1 Stafford Rangers - Report
Kaiman Anderson’s second half penalty was not enough for relegation-threatened Stafford to come from behind at Gainsborough Trinity.
Declan Howe hit a first half brace for the Holy Blues, with Rangers not able to create enough chances to salvage things after the break.
And Stafford had an uphill battle from the start with Howe firing the hosts ahead inside three minutes.
Things were nearly level again shortly after but Connor Heath was unable to get on the end of a Tyreece Onyeka pullback, while the goal stood gaping.
At the other end Dayle Southwell was left free in the box but saw his shot go narrowly wide as Gainsborough pushed for a second.
The visitors would not learn from that warning with Southwell running clean through moments later only for Cam Belford to produce a sublime save to keep the deficit to one.
That would not last for long though with Howe putting the hosts two to the good in smart style on 23 minutes.
Stafford’s best effort of the half game in time added one when Anderson saw his smart header from a Joe Willis corner scrambled off the line.
But there was nothing anyone could do on 50 minutes to stop Anderson scoring from 12 yards, as the forward rattled the ball into the bottom left corner from the spot.
Substitute Kian Taylor went close from 30 yards to finding an equaliser late on in the half, but Gainsborough held on for all three points.
