Warrington 1 Stafford Rangers 0 - Report
Stafford Rangers suffered their first defeat of the season away from home as they were beaten by Northern Premier League leaders Warrington.
Boro boss Neil Kitching demanded an improvement on Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat to Witton Albion and while the performance was much better, his side returned home with nothing to show for it.
Travelling to the division’s top team was always going to be a tough task for Stafford but they weathered an early storm and Jack Sherratt fired just wide after a quarter of an hour.
Keeper Adam Whitehouse was then called into action to deny Sean Williams, Tony Gray and James McCarten.
Boro came into the match more as the first half wore on and were level at the break before going behind early in the second period.
A Rory McKeown cross was only half cleared by the Stafford defence and former AFC Telford United striker Gray’s drilled ball across goal was diverted in by Bradley Barnes in the 51st minute.
Kitching responded by introducing Levi Reid, Joe Thomas and Richard Gregory off the bench and Boro had the ball in the net just after the hour mark only to see it ruled out for offside.
Boro pushed for the equaliser into the four minutes of added time and looked dangerous as the home side dropped deeper but it was Warrington who went closest to scoring - Abou Sanogo firing over after Gray’s accurate ball in.
Stafford huffed and puffed but the defeat extends their winless run in the Northern Premier League to five games - their last victory coming at Mickleover on August 22.
Kitching’s charges have a welcome break from league action on Saturday as they welcome Staffordshire rivals Tamworth to Marston Road..
