Evesham United 1 Stafford Rangers 3
Pre-Season Friendly
At: St George's Lane, Worcester
Attendance: 90 (headcount)
After conceding a penalty just before the interval, Stafford Rangers hit back to defeat Southern League Evesham United with three second-half goals.
Kevin Street and Dolapo Olaoye were forced to sit out the game played at Worcester City FC but skipper Wayne Daniel started for the first time this season.
Stafford survived an early scare when Mark Owen fired wide from a good position.
New signing Djoumin Sangare almost broke the deadlock in the 28th minute. Staying up after a corner he hit a fierce rising drive which Evesham goalkeeper Nathan Vaughan pushed into the area. The ball dropped towards goal and Vaughan did well to recover and palm it away to safety.
Evesham took the lead with a disputed penalty just before the interval. Initially the referee awarded a free-kick Wayne Daniel pulled down Owen on the left edge of the area but pointed to the spot after consulting his better-placed assistant. Owen got up to send Danny Alcock the wrong way with a well-struck left-foot strike.
Rangers drew level within two minutes of the restart when a near-post header was glanced past Vaughan.
Ritchie Sutton drove across the face of the Evesham goal before Stafford took the lead in the 69th minute. Pavol Suhaj combined with Neil Grayson and fired into the bottom left corner from 10 yards out.
Rangers wrapped up the win with a third goal scored in the 80th minute.
