Surprisingly, given the closeness to the festivities, a season`s best home crowd of 309 saw an eventful opening 45 minutes.
Barwell took an early eighth minute lead when Callum Ball tapped home from close range after Brady Hickey`s effort had been saved by Rangers` keeper Adam Whitehouse. But Stafford were back on level terms in the 15th minute from the penalty spot after Josh Gordon had been brought down by Barwell keeper Liam Castle. Gordon got up to net the resulting spot-kick.
The home side re-took the lead 11 minutes later when Owen Story set up Hickey to find the back of the net and the remainder of the half produced several near misses, two Barwell efforts cleared off the line and no less than six bookings as the Canaries held on for the pre-Christmas spoils.
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