DYNAMO 4 - Stafford Rangers 2

Dynamo took the lead inside two minutes when Jake Betts fired home from close range following a scramble in the Rangers area.

Luke Smithson was given the freedom of the right wing and when the ball came out to him in the tenth minute, he doubled the lead with a cross-shot which went in off the far post.

Smithson’s pace caused the Rangers defence all sorts of problems and from his crosses a header from Lee Morris flashed wide and Jon Brain was forced to save from Rob Norris as the Dynamo side continued to threaten.

Rangers showed some threat but Ross Whalin saved with his feet when James McCarthy just had the keeper to beat.

Both sides were then guilty of missed chances. Whalin saved from Sean Kinsella and Darren Chadwick headed wide for Stafford while Brain saved from Morris at the other end.

However it was Dynamo who came closest to adding to the first half score when Smithson struck the Rangers bar with a good drive.

Rangers began the second half in a more positive frame of mind and pulled a goal back on forty seven minutes through Paris Bateman.

Almost immediately, an error from Chadwick nearly let in Morris to restore the two goal margin but Brain saved brilliantly.

It was a swift break from the home side that saw Norris put Smithson in for his second of the night in the fifty sixth minute then Kris Nurse easily held off Bateman to curl home Loughborough’s fourth with twenty minutes remaining.

Rangers pressed in the final stages but lacked the finishing touch needed, Dan Cope pulling a goal back in the eighty second minute when he headed home James McCarthy’s corner but it was too little too late.