Blue Square Premier
At: Glassworld Stadium
Kick-off: 7-45 pm
Attendance: 527
Stafford Rangers scored two very late goals to gain an unlikely point and extend their unbeaten run to four games. It looked game over when Ekan Okay made it 3-1 to Histon in the 81st minute but Damion Jarrett converted a penalty and Djoumin Sangare struck an injury-time equaliser. Earlier, goals from Danny Wright scored either side of the interval put Histon in command before Neil Grayson reduced the deficit having earlier missed a penalty.
Injuries forced Stafford to make two changes to the starting line-up with Matt Hazley and Ross Draper coming in for Steve Hopkinson and Marco Adaggio who both limped off during the first half of last Saturday’s game.
There were few clear-cut chances created in the first half, through Histon had an early 'goal' Nathaniel Knight-Percival disallowed for pushing. Rangers defender Chris Flynn saw a header cleared off the line in the 34th minute but there was no real sign of the six-goal thriller that unfolded.
The Rangers’ defence was forced to work hard as Histon, employing a very direct style of play synonymous with their coach John Beck, caused plenty of problems from set-pieces and long throws.
And it was from a corner that Histon took the lead in first-half injury time. Knight-Percival headed the ball on and Danny Wright flicked it home at close range.
Stafford quickly got forward and Grayson was felled in the box by Patrick Ada. He picked himself up, only to send the resulting penalty over the bar.
Early in the second half, Danny Alcock maintained his excellent recent form with a superb reaction save to keep out Matt Mitchel-King’s header.
Grayson’s miss looked like proving costly especially when Wright doubled his side’s advantage with a 57th-minute tap in.
But the veteran made amends by reducing the deficit in the 70th minute with a brave header from Courtney’s Shaw’s left-wing cross.
An error by Richie Sutton allowed Histon to restore their two-goal advantage in the 81st minute. The defender, attempting to clear Wright’s cross, helped the ball on to Erkan Okay at the far right-hand post who headed home.
Bull urged his side to chase every ball and got another opportunity from the spot in the 89th minute. Histon fans and their manager, Steve Fallon, were puzzled when referee Guy Stretton awarded a penalty for a push on Grayson by Rosoce Hipperson. Jarrett took responsibility and confidently netted his first Stafford goal.
Stafford kept up the pressure and keeper Danny Naisbitt somehow kept out a long-range effort from Kevin Street.
Substitute Ishmale Reid, on his debut, then lofted a free-kick forward into a packed area in the second minute of stoppage time. Flynn headed it down and Sangare fired past Naisbitt to extend Rangers’ unbeaten run to four games.
The drama didn’t end there. Stafford survived a Histon corner and Reid tried his luck with a long-range lob that didn’t miss by much.
Teams
Histon (red/black/black): 21. Danny Naisbitt, 24. Craig Pope, 30. Patrick Ada, 4. Mat Mitchel-King, 25. Gareth Gwillim, 10. Antonio Murray, 6. Adrian Cambridge (capt), 7. John Kennedy, 18. Nathanial Knight-Percival, 23. Daniel Wright, 33. Jack Midson. Subs: 3. Erkan Okay (for Cambridge, 75), 11. Jamie Barker (for Midson, 85), 15. Roscoe Hipperson (for Pope, 85), 1. Lance Key, 17. Robbie Nightingale
Stafford Rangers (black and white stripes/white/red): 1. Danny Alcock, 38. Alex Gibson, 5. Wayne Daniel (capt), 2. Richie Sutton, 7. Chris Flynn, 37. Matt Hazley, 8. Kevin Street, 17. Ross Draper, 19. Seb Arnolin, 9. Neil Grayson, 35 Damion Jarrett. Subs: 40. Courtnet Shaw (for Arnolin, 55), 6. Djoumin Sangare (for Gibson, 70), 30. Ishmale Reid (for Hazley, 85), 16. Tom Ingram, 39. Keenan Meakin-Richards
Referee: Guy Stretton (Leicester)
Attendance: 527
The original match report was written for and published on the now defunct www.staffordrangers.co.uk
