|
Dr
Martens Western Division
Saturday,
7th February 2004
Attendance
| 447
Rugby
United |
2 |
3 |
Redditch
United |
|
Beard
35
Dutton
46 |
|
Hall
pen 60, 89
Leadbeater
70 |
| Match
Entertainment |
 |
| Match
Summary |
Defensive
lapses spoil good performance |
Star
Man | Robbie Beard |
Individually
most players played well, but Beardy carried the
fight as usual and got his increasingly mandatory
goal. |
Robbie
Beard and Jamie Williams returned to the United line-up
for the visit of the league leaders and Tony Dobson
returned to the dugout after his two-match touchline
ban.
The
visitors started brightly with winger Alex Cowley and
striker Scott Voice having wild efforts in a tight opening
ten minutes before Richard Burgess was the first to
register a shot on target, forcing Jason Pearcey to
save down to his left.
After
the opening fifteen minutes, the Reds didn't really
have a look-in as Rugby pressed with the attacking pace
and skill of the returning Robbie Beard and Justin Marsden.
Both players had dangerous runs, which amounted to successive
corners, and from one of these Beard ambitiously fired
over from a tight angle.
Beard
was easily getting the better of the Redditch defence,
and another dangerous run saw him up-ended, and from
the ensuing Jamie Williams free-kick, the Reds scrambled
the ball off the line.
Gary
Moran was looking strong down the right-hand-side and
after he had cut inside, the ball found its way to Jamie
Williams, whose effort went whistling over the bar.
It
took until 35 minutes for Rugby to break the deadlock,
Robbie Beard turned his marker and floated the
ball into the corner of the net from the edge of the
area.
Valley
could have doubled their lead almost immediately as
Marsden ran through, but after rounding a couple of
players, he couldn't direct his shot. Craig Dutton
then slid a ball through for Marsden, but he took one
too many touches in the area and was crowded out.
It
was looking very positive as they players came out for
the second half and things got better straight after
the break as Craig Dutton headed in a Jamie Williams'
corner despite the best efforts of the defender on the
line. This goal came after Justin Marsden had
taken a run straight from the kick-off and forced a
superb save from Reds keeper Richard Anstiss.
Three
minutes later, Beard came close once more, but his curled
effort from the edge of the area went slightly high
and wide of the goal.
Redditch
started to apply some pressure in the following five
minutes, and Scott Voice fired wide before the same
player forced a close-range save from Pearcey.
But then on the hour, the Reds were handed a lifeline
when Craig Dutton was adjudged to have upended Craig
Woodley just inside the box. Matty Hall
placed home the resulting penalty, sending Pearcey the
wrong way.
Four
minutes later, Redditch could have had a second penalty,
which looked far more certain than the one which was
given, but the referee turned down the appeal as Danny
Scheppel was upended clumsily in the area.
Marsden
threatened once more, but again too few men were forward
to support him, before Martin Myers missed an absolute
golden opportunity when Hall pulled the ball back for
him, but the goal-scorer at the Valley Stadium in September
somehow put the ball wide.
Then
the equaliser came after a routine long ball, as Andy
Commander's attempted header by to Pearcey was woefully
short and pacey substitute Richard Leadbeater latched
onto the mistake to round Rugby's number one and slot
home with ease.
The
game then got nervous as both sides were level going
into the last twenty minutes, and neither side dared
to commit themselves forward. Voice had a low
shot easily collected by Pearcey while at the other
end, Marsden's deep cross almost caught out Anstiss
and Moran's low cross went begging as Beard arrived
a fraction too late.
As
Redditch had scored last-minute winners in two of the
last three encounters, it seemed inevitable, and it
came as Rugby lost the ball in attack and Hall broke
with the ball. The visitors showed good pace in
their counter-attacks, what you might expect of a Rugby
side over the last two years, and the ball eventually
found its way to the back post where Matty Hall nodded
home to end the move he started and send the visitors
into elation.
Rugby
United | Pearcey, Moran, Williams, Hart, Commander,
Rutherford, Squire, Dutton, Beard, Marsden, Hegarty
(Douglas) Subs | Thomas, Shanahan, Kattos, Gordon
Bookings
|
Commander, Beard |
