Rangers travelled back from South Devon with all 3 points following a hard fought 3-2 victory .
Reece Conroy and Sam Rawlings came back into the starting line up with Aiden Horne and Josh Pearson dropping to the bench. Aaron Marks also came into the side in goal in place of the injured Luke Vernon.
We had the best possible start going 1-0 up within 5 minutes as a long ball forward was flicked on by Joe Wilkinson to Sam Rawling who came out on top in a 50/50 challenge with the opposing keeper to pass the ball into an empty net .
Rangers then dominated play and after 20 minutes Lloyd Beech rose high at the back post to head in a Jack Bryant corner . Following the second goal complacency crept in and within 5 minutes after giving away a poor free kick in a dangerous position Stoke grabbed a goal back with a free header from 10 yards out . This gave our opponents a real boost and within 5 minutes they were level after a penalty was awarded following a rash challenge in the area . Aaron was equal to the task and made a great save to his left but with the Rangers defence slow to react a Stoke player followed up to tap into an empty net . We were forced into a substitution just after the equaliser with Aiden Horne replacing Jack Bryant . Just before half time we regained the lead when Joe Wilkinson latched onto a through ball and gave the keeper no chance with a great finish from a narrow angle into the roof of the net. Again the second half was fairly even with Stoke shading possession but Rangers creating more opportunities . We made two more changes early in the second half with Luke Horne replacing Reece Conroy and Ben Scott replacing Sam Jones who had the leave the field with a facial injury . We then saw out the game fairly comfortably but were again guilty of wasting good opportunities to add to our total .
Clive commented after the game “ After making the perfect start we seemed to think it was going to be an easy afternoon but credit must go to Stoke who showed some real character to get back into the game and give us a really tough afternoon. We wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season “
Next up we are at home to Newton Abbott Spurs on Saturday with a 3pm kick off.
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