Northwich Victoria 4 Stafford Rangers 3
Blue Square Premier
Attendance: 971
Stafford Rangers found the net three times in an action-packed game at the Marston's Arena and ended up going down by the odd goal in seven. Neil Grayson, Chris Flynn and Nick Wellecomme were all on target.
Following Tuesday's defeat at Grays, manager Steve Bull MBE made three changes to the starting line-up. Djoumin Sangare, following his two-match ban, Neil Grayson, recovered from his back injury, and Alan Dodd, on his first start since November 2006, all came into the starting line-up in place of Wayne Daniel, Ross Draper and Nathan Smith. Richie Sutton took over the captain's armband.
Northwich took the lead in the 19th minute when Lee Steele burst through into the area down the left and fired a low shot past Danny Alcock.
It took Rangers four minutes to get back on level terms. Jonathan Loukes was pushed over inside the area by what looked like Michael Welch and Grayson converted the resulting penalty.
Stafford were awarded a free-kick which Ishmale Reid delivered forward into the area for Flynn to back-head into the top-left corner just out of reach of Ben Connett's fingertips.
The goals kept coming with Vics levelling in the 32nd minute. Mark Roberts forced the ball home at close range during a scramble in front of the Stafford goal.
Both Sangare and Joel Byrom were booked for separate fouls in the 44th minute, just before the home side regained the lead. Michael Byrne played a long free-kick, awarded for Sangare's foul, into the Rangers area and former Merthyr Tydfil defender Cortez Belle headed home.
Bull made a change at the interval with Kevin Street replacing Alan Dodd for the second half in a changed formation.
A disputed penalty led to Northwich opening up a two-goal cushion in the 52nd minute. David Brown went down under Sangare's challenge and Bryne send Alcock the wrong way from the spot.
A bad challenge two minutes later led to Sutton limping off with an ankle injury and resulted in a booking for David Brown. Sutton couldn't continue and was replaced by Daniel in the 57th minute.
However, Stafford bounced back with a classic goal in the 59th minute. Flynn crossed from the left and Wellecomme powered a header past Connett.
Teams
Northwich Victoria (green with white sleeves / white / white): 1. Ben Connett, 4. Michael Welch (capt), 6. Cortez Belle, 15. Mark Roberts, 26. Jamie Mullen, 32. Joel Byron, 2. Matty Crowell, 7. Michael Byrne, 14. Ryan Brown, 23. Lee Steele, 17. David Brown. Subs: 8. Michael Carr (for Mullan, 61), 13. Scott Tynan (gk), 20. Aaron Burns, 27. Luke Horrocks, 30. Danny Meadowcroft
Stafford Rangers (black and white stripes / black / black): 1. Danny Alcock, 2. Richie SUtton (capt), 6. Djoumin Sangare, 18. Alan Dodd, 22. Samy Mawene, 38. Alex Gibson, 7. Chris Flynn, 30. Ishmale Reid, 43. Jonathan Loukes, 42. Nick Wellecomme, 9. Neil Grayson. Subs: 5. Wayne Daniel (for Sutton, 57), 8. Kevin Street (for Dodd, ht), 15. Nathan SMith, 33. Danny Allen (gk), 35. Damion Jarrett (for Mawene, 63)
Referee: R. Fletcher (Derbyshire)
Attendance: 971
This match report was originally written for and published on the now defunct www.staffordrangers.co.uk
