Williams winner hands Bards the points in feisty battle
Stratford Town 2 Stamford 1
THRILLS, spills, gaffes and spats - this was a game with plenty of talking points even if the quality was lacking at times.
Town impressed from the start with Jack Storer delighting the home fans with some outlandish trickery on the right flank, bamboozling Stamford defender Connor Bartle which led to an early face-off between the pair.
He had an early effort that bobbled through to the keeper and another that was deflected just wide before the Bards thought they had made their early pressure count on five minutes when Paul McCone headed a Chris Hussey corner into the danger zone for Callum Ebanks to fire home on the turn only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.
Stamford’s Lee Shaw had chipped an early effort against the Town crossbar and it was the striker who handed the visitors the lead midway through the half as they began to take control. A misunderstanding between debutant keeper Callum Smith and defensive pair Hussey and McCone allowed Jack Duffy to lift the ball over their heads and to his strike partner who slotted into the empty net.
Storer forced Stamford keeper Michael Duggan into a save late in the half but it was the sixth-placed Daniels who went in at the break with their noses in front.
Stratford boss Gavin Hurren replaced midfielder Tom Solanke with Dan Lafferty at the start of the second half and he went close to an equaliser on 50 minutes, latching onto a Storer pass only to be denied by Duggan who tipped his effort over the bar.
There was an anxious moment by the rookie Bards shotstopper soon after when he spilled a Will Glennon header only to recover to gather at the foot of the post but he did well to keep out a deflected free-kick from the same player soon after.
Between these two chances Stamford were reduced to ten men. Storer was again involved but this time with central defender Ashton Offler who was sent off, the Bards’ playmaker seeing yellow for his part in the altercation before being substituted, Jamie Molyneux taking his place.
With Hussey now orchestrating things from the back, embarking on a series of runs into midfield, Town began to dominate with Charlie Williams and Alex Worley coming to the fore down the left flank.
Midway through the half Worley rifled an effort into the side-netting before Williams twice went close with one effort being deflected onto the post.
The equaliser finally came in the 76th minute. Hussey dropped a free-kick into the area where Lewis Ison headed on for McCone who directed his header beyond Duggan.
Another Ison header was gathered by the keeper soon after but Stratford’s relentless pressure paid off again on 79 minutes when Williams cut in off the left flank, drilled a low shot goalwards and watched as it slipped through Duggan’s legs.
Eleven additional minutes saw the visitors try to salvage a point but were kept at bay by some excellent defending as the Bards climbed to seventh in the table.
Stratford: Smith, Vann, Worley, Hussey, McCone, Solanke (Lafferty 46), Storer (Molyneux 62), Hawker, Ebanks (Daly 90+5), Ison, Williams. Subs (not used): O’Brien, Barkers.
Stamford: Duggan, Burgess, Bartle (Bennett 56), Glennon, Offler, Blunden, Chitza (Brown-Hill 80), Morgan, Duffy (Siddons 62), Shaw, Vince. Subs (not used): Armstrong, Challinor.
Referee: Elliott Kaye
Attendance: 527
Bards Star Man: Chris Hussey
Opposition Star Man: Harry Vince
