Bramall brace seals Worksop Town win over Stockton Town

The team celebrating after Dan Bramall's second goal - Photo by Richard Bierton

Dan Bramall's brilliant brace secured a fine 2-1 victory for Worksop Town over play-off contenders Stockton Town at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium on Saturday.

Delighted manager Craig Parry said: “I thought it was a very good performance from us, and we’ve played like that for the last few games.

“We probably could have come away more comfortably - we’ve hit the bar, and the post a few times, so I think if we were a bit more clinical it could have been a bigger score.

“We had a few standout performers as well as being defensively solid.”

The Tigers created the game’s first opportunity when Dan Bramall set up Joe Leesley just outside the box, but his powerful strike was straight at the goalkeeper.

Leesley returned the favour moments later, lofting an over-the-top ball to Bramall, whose cross flashed across the face of goal but narrowly missed two Tigers players at the back post.

Aleks Starcenko’s pressing forced a turnover in Stockton’s defence, allowing him to deliver a cutback to Vaughan Redford, who fired just over the crossbar.

Worksop broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute when Starcenko found Bramall in acres of space, and the winger made no mistake, driving his shot past Stockton keeper Nathan Harker.

Worksop carried their momentum into the second half, with Starcenko curling a shot that rattled the crossbar before the defence managed to clear the danger. Kevin Haynes seized on the clearance but dragged his effort wide from inside the box.

The Tigers doubled their lead in the 56th minute, with Starcenko again playing a key role. His shot from the edge of the box struck the post, but Bramall was on hand to slot the rebound into the bottom-right corner.

Bramall came close to completing his hat trick, weaving through the Anchors’ defence only to see his shot hit the post. Substitute Liam Hughes also struck the woodwork with an audacious outside-of-the-foot effort, as the Tigers continued to dominate.

Stockton pulled one back in the 90th minute when Michael Sweet capitalised on a misplaced back-pass by Sam Wedgbury, squaring the ball to Michael Roberts for a simple tap-in.

That’s seven points from nine for Worksop, and they will look to continue their good form against Ilkeston at the New Manor Ground on Saturday.