Hall Road Rangers 2-5 Glasshoughton

Hall Road Rangers suffered a heavy home defeat on Saturday as they lost 2-5 against Glasshoughton Welfare at Haworth Park. Glasshoughton took the lead in the 13th minute when Lewis Stephens bundled the ball into the back of the net after getting on the end of a corner which was swung into the Rangers box.

Jody Barford was forced into producing a good save in the 26th minute as he prevented the visitors from doubling their lead. After this, Rangers carved out a couple of very good chances to get back on level terms. Alex Knaggs had a header cleared off the line in the 30th minute whilst Chris Spinks saw his shot saved by Glasshoughton keeper Sam Riches four minutes later.

However, the visitors doubled their lead in the 41st minute as Dylan Drovi rounded Jody Barford and slotted the ball home. Hall Road almost immediately got back into the game when Chris Spinks’ shot came off the post.

Rangers reduced the arrears in the 50th minute courtesy of Reece Moody’s 4th goal of the season. Glasshoughton subsequently made it 1-3 in the 54th minute when Lewis Stephens got his second goal of the game.

Craig Muirhead came close to pulling a goal back for Hall Road in the 65th minute with an effort that was fired wide. Three minutes later, Rangers made it 2-3 as Reece Moody dispatched a penalty to bag his 5th goal in all competitions. There appeared to be some momentum for Rangers at this point which culminated in a Sam Robinson header in the 71st minute which went over the bar.

This was halted by the visitors extending their lead in the 77th minute as James Cusworth got his name on the scoresheet. Glasshoughton increased their lead even further in the 89th minute thanks to a Kyle Fish effort.

Rangers joint boss Leon Sewell admitted that his side were second best on the day.

“We never got going. We looked as though it was one game too many for us. We looked a bit deflated and a bit dejected. Ultimately, we never got going and fair play to Glasshoughton.

They took the game to us and caused us some problems in the final third. The team talk before the game was that the team who made the least amount of mistakes would win the game and it was easy to see that we were the team who made too many mistakes.

It’s disappointing in the manner that we rolled over and that isn’t taking anything away from Glasshoughton. I thought they played the pitch better and, like I say, I thought they got the ball into dangerous areas in the final third” Sewell said.

Report by: Oliver Harsley