Steve Bull made three changes, dropping skipper Wayne Daniel in favour of Alan Dodd alongside Djimi Sangare in a three-man central defence.
Neil Grayson, Chris Flynn and Nick Wellecomme found the net – in that order – but defensive errors sent Rangers within one loss of relegation.
All the goals were scored between the 19th and 59th minutes.
Early on, there was little hint of the feast to follow, although Rangers keeper Danny Alcock did produce a great save with his legs to keep out Michael Welch’s shot through a crowd.
Stafford went behind but made it 2-1 in the 29th minute to take the lead for the first time since Bull was appointed boss.
But by half-time it was 3-2 Northwich, who were also struggling in the league.
Bull scrapped the Dodd experiment and reverted to a 4-4-2 with Kevin Street coming on to strengthen the midfield.
But seven minutes after the restart, Sangare was adjudged to have felled David Brown in the area. Bull was fuming but Bryne converted and that cushion proved vital.
Richie Sutton was caught by an awful challenge by Brown and suffered ankle ligament damage.
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5 Comments
“In view of the improved results in their last 4 matches in charge, the Board should have left the ‘caretaker’ team of Messrs Street and Grayson at the helm until the end of the season rather than signing an untested manager no matter how popular” : discuss…..
To be fair to Steve Bull the majority of Managers in League 2 would have struggled to keep Stafford in the Conference taking over when he did. As for being an untested Manager well yes he is, but isn’t everyone at some stage ??
Assume you would never have chosen Gareth Southgate, Roy Keane etc on that basis ??
This is not Steve’s team and so he should be assessed after he has bought players over the Summer. However I don’t think he will be a successful manager because he lives with his ‘heart on his sleeve’ and probably expects all his players to do the same.
I hope i’m wrong but he should have been a more experienced managers number 2 for a time just to get his man management skills right.
Anyway I hope you guys bounce back next year and will be playing Hednesford again in three years time.
Does the term ‘devils advocate’ have any meaning? lol!
To be clear - as a Rangers supporter who can date his trips to Marston Road back to the days of the Cheshire League, a tin shack main stand and home gates of 7,000+ against the likes of Skem and Wigan, I am happy to welcome Bully to Marston Road, hope he can pull it all together in time for next season and that he can get the Boro back where they belong.
I’m just not convinced about the timing of the appointment - IMHO when you are in the middle of a relegation battle and the team finally seems to be putting a string of performances and, more inportantly, results together isn’t necessarily the best time to change the man at the top?
The obstacle of course is that its unlikely Bully will have any more money to play with than Robbo had and, as we are all aware, Rangers’ biggest problem is that they don’t have the income streams necessary to attract the players the manager would like to sign.
And since the names have been mentioned… didn’t Middlesborough do with Gareth Southgate exactly what the Rangers board did with Neil and Kevin? And Roy Keane is… well… Roy Keane…..
As an aside, does anyone know what is happening with Dave McNiven? Is he still at least nominally on our books and if so has Bully given him the once-over - he might want to bring him back.
Martin/WW - I think you’re both right! Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, but if we could turn it back, the continuity and inside knowledge of Street n Grayson may have given Boro the best chance of staying up - as appeared to be the case four games prior to Bull being appointed. BUT - any manager coming in ‘cold’ would be faced with a nigh-on impossible task, so that decision having been made (to appoint him) Bull has to be given a fair go over a reasonable period of time. Hopefully, and I like many wish him well as an dedicated honest pro that he was as a player, Bull will turn things around and develop his own management abilities to the required level in order to to succeed. We have to be realistic though in case it doesn’t happen; his only previous experience - as far as I know - was as a coach at Hereford, where he was replaced by our former manager Phil Robinson when things weren’t working out…if that’s true, we (Boro fans) have to give him our full support in what is a really tough ask and remember that he’s been very honest from the off - stating that he’ll give the job his all (which is all anyone can do) but will be big enough to hold his hands up if he can’t cut it.