Lafferty and Ison share the goals in ‘statement’ win

Stratford Town 4, AFC Telford United 0

DAN Lafferty and Lewis Ison bagged two goals apiece to deliver what Stratford’s caretaker boss Paul Davis referred to as a ‘statement’ win.

Other than a brief spell early in the second half, the Bards dominated throughout and Davis was delighted with the message it sent out to their title rivals.

“We talked at half-time about being 2-0 up and going to get the next goal and actually having a statement win,” the boss explained. “By that I mean teams looking at results and seeing Stratford beat Telford 4-0 which will raise some eyebrows.

“I thought we fully deserved it from start to finish, I thought we were the better team. I thought we were clinical in front of goal and like I said, I thought it was a statement win.

“I was really pleased to keep a clean sheet because we’ve been good defensively and that helps our goal difference, scoring four.”

After an early scare when it needed a fine challenge from Dan Vann to deny Telford’s Ricardo Dinanga after he had got goalside, the Bards began to take control.

Callum Ebanks had a shot shoved around the post by the keeper on 20 minutes before Town opened the scoring from the resultant corner. Fin Brennan played the kick short to Lafferty who turned the ball to Ison on the edge of the area and his low shot flew into the net.

It was 2-0 on the half-hour when great work from Owen James ended with him rolling Lafferty in on goal and the midfielder calmly steered his shot beyond Brandon Hall in the Bucks goal.

Telford’s best chance of the first half came just before the interval when Reece Styche beat the offside trap only for Bards keeper Jake Weaver to smother his shot.

Hall did well to keep out a well-struck Lafferty effort early in the second period before the visitors had their purple patch. On 62 minutes substitute Jimmy Armson was able to take advantage when the ball dropped at his feet in front of goal following a goalmouth scramble and then, two minutes later, Vann brilliantly cleared off the line from Styche’s header.

From then on it was one-way traffic and just a matter of how much damage the Bards could inflict on their visitors.

On 73 minutes, a delightful free-kick from substitute Ash Sammons picked out Ison at the far post for him to head in Stratford's third before Lafferty grabbed his second of the afternoon after latching onto a pin-point James through ball.

There would have been a fifth late on had Hall not pulled off a brilliant reflex save from his own defender as a Sammons corner flicked off Cranston’s head.

Stratford (4-2-3-1): Weaver; Vann, Ison, McCone, Brennan; Solanke (Sammons 69), Hawker; Williams (Leeson 79), Lafferty, James; Ebanks (Storer 81). Subs (not used): Wilson, Bapanga.

Telford (4-2-3-1): Hall; Piggott, Pendley, Whittall, Cranston; Storer, Hawkins (Armson 59); Dinanga, Brown, Walker; Styche. Subs (not used): Tebbutt, Gudger, Morris.

Referee: Lewis Mountain

Attendance: 1,044

Bards Star Man: Dan Lafferty

Opposition Star Man: Jordan Cranston