Stafford may have fell to defeat at Midland Alliance outfit Rocester in their first pre-season friendly – but manager Steve Bull saw enough of the sort of formation he feels could lead the team to success.

A narrow 1-0 defeat on a jungle like pitch at Hillsfield became almost secondary next to the line up Bully put out, deploying a 3-5-2 formation.

The wing-back pairing of Andre Francis and Ishamel Reid possess the sort of pace that could really make a system like that work, a notion that is not lost on the Rangers boss.

He said: “Both have got the pace to do the job. Probably at this point they lack that little bit extra fitness but that will come in the coming weeks.

“The formation is certainly looking like something I could use this season. They are certainly the sort of roles I could see Andre and Ishamel playing.”

Reid and Francis showed flashes of that at Rocester, although both were replaced in the second half. They lined up with Dave McPherson, Bobby Wilson and Carl Palmer across the midfield.

Centre-backs Wayne Daniel, Stuart Pierpoint and Nick Amos filled out the defence, with David McNiven and Nick Wellecomme in attack.

That starting XI could give anyone at Blue Square North level a problem on their day and if it had not been for chances spurned, last night’s result could have been different.

Bully is not worried – the side have not even started shooting practice yet.

He said: “I will be working with the forwards and the squad in general next week on that aspect. With my experience, hopefully it will help.

“The first three weeks of the pre-season training have been about getting the fitness levels up which let us down last season.

“The real hard work starts next week. We play at Halesowen next Wednesday and that is the sort of game where the players have to convince me they are worth a place come August 9 against Farsley.”