Bulls News

Match report - FA Cup Stafford Rangers v Hereford Sept 19th 2026

Some days things go better than others. Last week was off the scale in the right way; I was one of those normally grumpy pessimists on the Len Weston Terrace thrumming with appreciation like a giddy teenager at a Taylor Swift concert as Mark Jones beautifully described in his preview.

This week was more towards the wrong end of that scale. More The Grateful Dead or Leonard Cohen perhaps?

Anyway, when the draw was made I was pleased with it. I like these sort of cup ties. Somewhere I'd not been before, both the town of Stafford and its football club have pedigree. Post our own famous giant killing I can remember Stafford Rangers up there with the likes of Wimbledon and Altrincham as teams likely to give potential Division 3 and 4 opponents cold sweats.

Also, not too far to travel. A relatively simple journey for me, train from Cardiff to Brum, then a further 30 minutes from there to Stafford. And that's where things started to go wrong.

I got as far as Cheltenham and that appeared it might be the end of my journey, a signal issue between there and Worcester and nothing due to run for hours at best. No sign of the dreaded replacement bus service, so after an hour or so me and 2 other random people (one was off to watch Blues v Boro, probably saw a better game than us too) clubbed together for a taxi to Brum. An expensive solution but needs must etc. Train from New Street to Stafford was fine and I joined a bunch of fellow travellers (from London, Wiltshire, Glossop, Pershore amongst others) in the Bird in Hand (not the Beer in Hand as I, perhaps wishfully, kept calling it). Then the Shrewsbury (boo hiss) Arms before the 20 minute stroll to the ground.

I have to say what I saw of Stafford's town centre looked like it deserved more time spent wandering around it, shame I was delayed for so long on the way up and some decent food would have been far better than a grabbed meal deal at New Street.

The ground itself was decent, not quite as big as I pictured (perhaps those 70s giant killings were playing a bit on my imagination) but a proper old main stand and decent terracing on the other 3 sides, all with some cover (not needed today thankfully). Three portaloos not good though. As for the pitch, a grass one, not the most even but we've seen far worse, a bit of a slope which we, I think, chose to kick down in the first half.

We lined up Theo, James, Skinner, Merrett, Kandola, Bitemo, Tustin, Spokes, Phillips, Waldron and Williamson. I'd wondered if Notts County would permit Iwunze to play, yes was the answer, he was on the bench as was Joe Willis.

A scrappy, competitive first half, as you would expect. Perhaps we had a slight edge but not much in it. Stafford's main threat would come from ex Tamworth Tommy Tonks long throw missiles, but they showed more thought and confidence at times, an early potential Tonks howitzer was thrown short as our defence crowded the area, we were caught slightly napping and were fortunate a header from a good cross went just wide.

After 15 minutes we were awarded a penalty for a foul on Waldron but an assistant's flag was then raised for offside.

It wasn't long before we did take the lead, some patient passing, with Spokes prominent, created space for James and his cross from the right was headed home by Waldron at the far post.

The rest of the half was fairly even, we dealt with the long throws without much alarm but failed to repeat the more controlled football that led to our goal, too many long balls, a pitch not really conducive to one touch football plus perhaps plaudits to the home side for not allowing us the space to play.

I did try a cheese and onion pasty at half time to supplement that earlier unsatisfactory meal deal, not bad, but from comments elsewhere I think the pies were a better option.

Two changes before the restart, Howkins and Cox on for James and Williamson. James was spotted post match with an ice pack round an ankle or calf muscle, hope it's not too serious, sometimes you appreciate a player more when he's not there.

Stafford with the slope and the wind made the perfect start. 2 minutes in they made space for a cross from just about the same spot as for our goal, the result was the same, albeit volleyed in from 6 yards by leading scorer, Bakkor.

We were up against it from then on. Theo made an outstanding save after a Tonks throw had hit the bar and wasn't cleared. Home attacks were fairly direct but often effective, our hurried clearances led to more pressure from the missile launcher.

One note from rule tweaks this season, the home keeper needed treatment and an outfield player then had to leave the field for a minute. Glad to see the number of fake keeper injuries (this one seemed genuine) seems to have stopped.

About 20 minutes into the half Iwunze came on for Waldron and soon after almost gave us the lead, his shot well saved (I thought it was in). Up to now this season we've weathered pressure when it's needed and then scored, often through Iwunze of course. This time we missed our moment perhaps?

It felt like exactly that shortly after when we made a mess of clearing the ball in our right back area and Stafford were rightly awarded a penalty when the subsequent run into the area was halted illegally. Birch scored easily and we were in trouble.

Two further minutes and our goose was properly cooked. Another mistake at right back and Bakkor took his opportunity with a superb curling finish from the corner of the area. Far too simple to say that neither goal may have happened if James had still been on the pitch but that's what I felt at the time.

Roberts came on for Tustin. Stafford had a further goal chalked off for a marginal offside before Cox made amends for a previous one on one miss by finishing a similar chance well. 2 minutes plus 5 of injury time to go but try as we might there were no more serious threats on the home goal.

Picture From Steve Niblett

A desperately disappointing afternoon, we've been spoilt so far this season, even poor games like at Southport we managed to win without playing well. Difference today was Stafford played with a plan that worked; they had purpose, plenty of aggression and despite being the higher placed side in the pyramid we struggled to cope. Credit to them for a deserved win in front of their biggest crowd for decades apparently.

After my earlier train travails, I'd organised a potential lift part of the way home before I even risked the cab north from Cheltenham and I took that option. I could have done with joining a few others for a wind down and collective grumble (all to a Leonard Cohen backing track) in another welcoming Stafford pub before the train journey home but today that probably wasn't wise …. I would have made it home eventually but considerably later than planned.

Hopefully see you at Bedford, trains permitting.

Nigel Preece

Stafford Rangers manager Graham Deakin spoke about his 'immense pride' after putting Hereford out of the FA Cup yesterday.

"As the manager of this football club and what I've just witnessed from this group of players that we've put together over the summer just immense pride to turn over the best team at step two after going a goal behind to turn them over 3-2," he said.

Keeper Leon Phillips had been recalled to the squad and was probably Stafford's man of the match.

"It was really difficult for him to come into the squad when he was not starting originally.

"That kid has shown some mental strength today to come in and perform how he's performed.

"We could have been further ahead but at the time he made them saves that were really important. What he's done I'm so proud of him."

Hereford scored first.

"I thought we were playing well.

"I thought they had that little bit of quality when Waldron scored their goal but I just felt if we weathered the storm for a little bit for the next five minutes after we conceded and we didn't concede two and we stayed in the game I always felt we would have a chance.

"I don't know what they were expecting. I spoke to their manager before the game and he said he had watched us against Kidsgrove (last Tuesday).

"But we tweaked the formation a little bit, I don't know if they were expecting us to do it."

3004 watched the game, Stafford's biggest crowd since 1990.