Rance sees no reason to panic after Moseley defeat

TOM Rance insists there is no reason for Stratford to panic after they suffered their eighth league defeat of the season to Moseley Oak on Saturday.

The result sees the Black and Whites slip to fifth in the table and leaves them with an uphill task to equal last season’s third-place finish.

Stratford may have lost their winning momentum, but Rance insists there is still plenty of spirit in the squad ahead of this weekend's crunch clash against Midlands 1 West leaders Newport.

“There is certainly no need to panic,” said Rance.

“On Saturday, we were beaten by a team that played the conditions and played the game better than us.

“The league is difficult. There are teams who are bottom who could quite feasibly be top of the league.

“It’s one of those. Last season, the results were going our way, but this season they’re not.

“Defeats however they come are frustrating but the whole ethos at Stratford is we remain unified and defiant until the end of the season.

“The very fact we remain fifth in easily the most competitive Midlands league and still want more is a testament to the players.”

Defeat to Moseley was hardly the ideal preparation for this Saturday's game against top dogs Newport, but Rance remains in bullish mood.

He added: “We’ve had it before where we’ve lost to Bournville last season and promotion hopes were gone.

“Then we had to play Bridgnorth after that and we smashed them. So, in some ways, let’s have it — bring them on.”