Stafford Rangers 1 Forest Green Rovers 3
Blue Square Premier
At: Marston Road
Kick-off: 3-00 pm
Attendance: 754 (92 away fans)
Weather: mild and dry
Stafford Rangers' three-match unbeaten run came to an end in controversial circumstances. Marco Adaggio (17 mins) gave Boro a halt-time lead but Blue Square Premier leading scorer Stuart Fleetwood (56) levelled early in the second half. But there was plenty of discussion about both the visitors' late goals scored by Fleetwood (84) and Mark Beesley (89) as well as the injury-time dismissal of man-of the-match Djoumin Sangare.
Phil Robinson made one change with Neil Grayson coming in for the injured David McNiven. New signing Sebastian Hamilton, from Romulus, made his debut as a second-half substitute and Nathan Smith returned to action for the first time since May 2006. Two former Stafford players missed the chance to face their former club. Forest Green skipper Michael Brough was out with a knee injury while Danny Carey-Bertram was an unused substitute.
Stafford were good value for their first half lead even through neither goalkeeper was called upon to make a save.
Neil Grayson, facing the club he left to join Stafford, got his head to a free-kick played into the area by Kevin Street, but failed to hit the target.
Street got the better of Simon Clist on the right and sent in a dangerous cross. The ball was headed out to David Oldfield who played in forward for Adaggio who fired wide.
Sangare, early given a lecture by the referee, was booked for felling Stuart Fleetwood just outside the Stafford area. Clist, however, blasted the resulting free-kick against the wall. From the rebound, the ball was played into the populated area and headed over by Chris Giles.
Defender Fred Murray made a vital challenge to deny Fleetwood a run on goal down the right. His tackle proved all the more vital as Stafford quickly got forward and took the lead.
Cedric Avidel found Grayson on the right who cut into the area. The veteran was closed down but cleverly found Adaggio who swept a right foot shot into the bottom left corner to score his fifth goal of the season.
The visitors found the Stafford defence difficult to penetrate. Avinel did well to cut out a cross from Mark Beesley who got on the end of a pass from Fleetwood.
As the interval approached, Murray fired wide from Grayson's lay-off.
Grayson could have doubled the lead three minutes after the restart. Put clear by Flynn, the veteran sent a lob inches over after Ryan Robinson had rushed off his line.
The flurry of action at the start of the second half continued when Scott Loach did well to keep out a low drive from Jamie Pitman. Skipper Wayne Daniel cleared after the ball ran free.
Grayson went close again with an overhead kick that flew just over the bar.
Forest Green got back on level terms in the 56th minute. Clist battled to the edge of the Rangers area and slipped a pass through to Fleetwood who made no mistake from close range.
A goal line clearance from Anthony Tonkin prevented Stafford from regaining the lead. Street’s free-kick was flicked on by Daniel to Grayson who saw a close-range shot blocked by the defender.
A controversially-awarded free-kick led to Forest Green taking the lead in the 85th minute. Richard Sutton was the man penalised and Fleetwood curled the ball home via the left-hand post.
Forest Green put the outcome beyond doubt with a third goal in the 89th minute with Rangers fans again puzzled by what they saw. Fleetwood appeared to impede Daniel in setting up a chance for Beesley who slotted home at close range. Daniel, still on the ground when the ball went in, was briefly able to continue after treatment but limped off injury time.
Loach prevented another goal in injury time when he somehow kept out a shot from Jonathan Smith at the expense of a corner.
Just before full time, Stafford’s were again left lost for words when Sangare was shown a second yellow card for a harmless-looking tackle.
Stafford Rangers (black and white stripes/black/black) 12. Scott Loach; 5. Wayne Daniel (capt), 26. Cedric Avinel, 6. Djoumin Sangare; 2. Richard Sutton, 7. Chris Flynn, 8. Kevin Street, 28. David Oldfield, 25. Fred Murray; 20. Marco Adaggio, 9. Neil Grayson. Subs: 17. Ross Draper (for Oldfield, 64), 30. Sebastian Hamilton (for Street, 88), 15. Nathan Smith (for Daniel, 90), 24. Steve Hopkinson (not used), 1gk. Danny Alcock (not used).
Forest Green Rovers (green/white/green): 1. Ryan Robinson; 4. Darren Jones, 12. Mark Preece, 5. Chris Giles (capt), 3. Anthony Tonkin; 17. Les Afful, 6. Jamie Pitman, 8. Simon Clist, 22. Lee Dodgson; 7. Mark Beesley; 14. Stuart Fleetwood. Subs: 11. John Hardiker (for Giles, 56), 20. Jonathan Smith (for Pitman, 64). 19. Paul Stonehouse (for Afful, 76), 23. Danny Carey-Bertram (not used), 25gk. Terry Burton (not used).
Referee: Ross Joyce (Middlesbrough).
