Stafford Rangers v Pitmen ... PSF

[Del]

Match scheduled for: Saturday 30 July - kick-off time: 15:00
Venue: Marston Road Stadium, Astonfield Road, Stafford ST16 3UF

There will be live match commentary available courtesy of SRFC

[Lee K]

[Glyn]

I make it "up" to Marston Road

[PitmanKeith]

Live commentary courtesy of Strangers

https://srfcradio.mixlr.com/events/1298177

[Del]

Hednesford Town: Gwilliams, Hayden, Portman, Riley, Ison (c), Rowe, O'Sullivan, Parker, Lita, Ebbutt, Landell.
Subs: Tilt, Lycett, Rashad, Seraton, Williams, Manton, Trialist, Morley.

Strangers: Belford, Burns, Dunne, Stewart, Morrison, Willis, Baxter, Bailey-Jones, Tonks, Anderson, Trialist.


.... and the teams are led out by a wedding couple - the bride and groom. Will they kick-off on the centre circle!

[Del]

1500hrs: Game on
6mins: 1-0 (Anderson) - poachers goal
27mins: Penalty shout for Hednesford, O'Sullivan goes down in area but referee is well positioned and waves the appeals away (VAR said no!)

HT: 0-1

[Perton Pitman]

A very poor first 20 minutes which saw us give a goal away when we were slow getting to a loose ball in our box.
Portman has done well and o'sullivan has picked up after a slow start. The latter put a decent cross in but nobody was on hand to tap it in.
Lita has received little support and service.
There are a couple in our starting line up today who shouldn't even be in the squad for the redditch game and a couple more who should be on the bench.
Hoping for better second half as we haven't had a shot yet.

[Del]

2nd half ... Pitmen sub: Rowe off - Trialist on

1600hrs: Game on
57mins: Strangers sub: Trialist A off - White on
59mins: Pitmen subs: Hayden, Portman & Landell off - Tilt, Lycett & Manton on
67mins: Strangers sub: Bailey-Jones off - Trialist B on
70mins: 0-2 (Stewart) .. easy header in from a Baxter corner
70mins: Pitmen subs: Ebbutt & Gwilliams off - Rashad & Williams on
OFFICIAL : 463

80mins: Lita & Parker off - Morley & Seraton on
83mins: Strangers sub: Anderson off - Trialist C on

FT: 0-2

[Perton Pitman]

2 0 now. Header from a corner. Strangers have had loads of corners and gwilliams hasn't come for one. We look vulnerable again to the long ball. Manton has gone to right back and Manton to left. I'd rather see lycett on the left wing linking up with Portman.
A very poor showing with no prospect of us scoring

[PitmanKeith]

Wonder if he knows what his starting line up is yet?

[Glyn]

Good question Keith. We await the answer...

[Lee K]

2 0 now. Header from a corner. Strangers have had loads of corners and gwilliams hasn't come for one. We look vulnerable again to the long ball. Manton has gone to right back and Manton to left. I'd rather see lycett on the left wing linking up with Portman.
A very poor showing with no prospect of us scoring

Bit harsh on Manton having to play right back and left back. He’ll be knackered and won’t know whether he’s coming or going….

[Perton Pitman]

Good spot Lee

On reflection, I left the game feeling very disappointed. We barely laid a glove on Strangers - one decent chance falling to O'Sullivan who blasted it at the keeper when he should have scored. We conceded lots of corners - I can't recall us having many - and throw-ins which Tonks hurled into the six yard box. Gwilliams seemed content to stay on his line and it was only a matter of time before the hosts won an uncontested header to score (which they did to score the second). We either need a dominant keeper or a dominant centre half - the trialist centre half stayed in the dugout as did Cuff. All of a sudden we looked a soft touch at the back again when the ball was put high onto our defence. I also thought Gwilliams was slow out of the blocks for the first goal, but the highlights will either confirm or trash my perspective. I'm afraid we are in for a tough ride this year unless we can score 2 goals per game as he looks extremely shaky.

There were too many shrinking violets on the pitch for us and I'm afraid our main players were unable to create much at all which left Lita frustrated.
I'm not sure if the manager knows what his best XI is but for me it doesn't contain Hayden (led a merry dance by their trialist number 11), Landell, Rowe (no match for Tonks)and O'Sullivan all of whom started today.
We desperately need to sign the centre half we have had on trial, but where does that leave Ison and Riley - the latter again was unspectacularly efficient once again? KMR seems intent on playing Portman at left back which I think has to see Lycett play wide on the left as he did at the start of last season, but where does that leave Cuff (unless he switches to the right).

I think we have boxed ourselves in by awarding contracts too freely which creates a problem for us. I think Rashad looks a very good prospect, the best out of the crop of the academy in my view and we need think about giving him a spell in the team at some point at the expense of an older head who perhaps has seen better days.

Next week I'd start:-
Gwilliams
Webb
Cameron (if he signs)
Ison
Portman
Parker
Lycett
The diminutive trialist who came on at half time
Tilt
Ebbutt
Lita

Subs
Riley
Bennett
Landell
O'Sullivan
Rashad

[C D S]

A dreadful performance from the off and throughout. Easily beaten by a much more aggressive and direct Stafford team who played to their strengths at set pieces and deserved the win.

A muddled and bemusing formation; I’m not sure what we were trying to achieve with Landell, Ebbutt, Lita and O’Sullivan all playing in attack, but it didn’t work at all. Where has this sudden urge to try players out of position come from right at the end of pre-season? O’Sullivan as a right winger, Lycett at right back, the now-departed Byrne playing left back on Tuesday night. I get that pre-season is about trying different things but I have to question the timing; it’s the sort of thing you do at the start of pre-season but not towards the end of it. I’ve no idea who starts at full-back next weekend as we chop and change there constantly

On a similar point, why have we made eight substitutions in our last game of pre-season? How does that benefit the XI who start next weekend? The youth team players who aren’t close to the first team picture shouldn’t have got minutes today.

Anyway, one shot all game was all we could muster and that was late on through O’Sullivan. Once again, Gwilliams’ performance came under the microscope after a shaky seventy minutes; it certainly looked from my vantage point that he should have done better with the opening goal and produced a very unconvincing display. His kicking was awful, constantly booting the ball into touch under no pressure.

Parker was a very frustrated figure in the first half as constantly he picked the ball up from deep and looked to make moves forwards but found a distinct lack of movement and players offering themselves in front of him. He gave his team mates a proper rollicking after one too many errant passes were gobbled up by the Strangers defenders. A player like Parker is typically a one and two-touch player, working the ball quickly up the pitch, but today he was taking three or four touches at a time as he was offered very few options to pass to

Fair play to Strangers, who looked far more like a competitive NPL side today than nine days ago. The two big, ugly centre-backs were solid and they were more willing to work hard and chase the ball down than at KP. An easy win for them and a morale boost after being savaged by Hanley in midweek

I’m hoping that Webb, Bennett and Cuff will all come back into the team for next week’s curtain raiser as their experience and quality will be much-needed. Still much to ponder for the manager as today was very much a step backwards, some of which was his own making.

[Lee K]

My team to start the first game:

1. Rhys Williams
2. Josh Webb
3. Carter Lycett
4. Trialist (centre half)
5. Lewis Ison
6. James McQuilkin
7. Trialist (right winger)
8. Todd Parker
9. Riley O’Sullivan
10. Leroy Lita
11. Joe Cuff

Subs:
12. Kyle Bennett
13. Lewis Gwilliams
14. Luke Rowe
15. Martin Riley
16. Andre Landell

Left out:
1. Joe Morley
2. Lewis Hayden
3. Harvey Portman
4. Numair Rashad
5. Cameron Ebbutt
6. Romehl Seraton
7. Harry Manton
8. Chay Tilt
+ any other trialists.

[Perton Pitman]

I think the trialist winger (the lad who was at Oldham last year) isn't around anymore. I might be wrong however.

[Lee K]

McQuilkin appears to have disappeared as well over the last 2 or 3 games unless he’s on holiday. He’s just the sort of composed and experienced midfielder we need with the younger ones around him.

[Perton Pitman]

Hopefully things w ill be clearer in a few days. I don't know where Bennett is either, but at least he should be around next week as he signed a contract I believe

[TMVP]

KMR post-match interview

[TMVP]

Lewis Ison post-match interview

[Billy kee]

Well my first pre season game….and that’s certainly why I do not attend them…Stafford looked the much stronger team two towering centre halves had lita in there back pocket. Midfield packed with Todd Parker by far the best player although he hit a couple of wayward passes always wanted the ball. Lewis Ison really like the way he plays just needs an experienced pro by the side of him and lycett for me needs to play his tenacity and direct running should make him a shoe in for the opening game. The goalkeeper Williams looks out of his depth nearly beaten by a tonksy half way line shot and doesn’t move for corners.

[Perton Pitman]

I think you are referring to gwilliams

[Billy kee]

Yes gwilliams didn’t no we had more than one keeper with a surname sounding like Williams

[TMVP]

Highlights

[Perton Pitman]

Thanks for the highlights. Two very soft, simple goals to concede. The header was scored from about 4 yards out, largely unopposed. That won't do