lineup

dean thomas

gary moran

jamie williams

adam hart

andy commander

gary redgate

steve evans

craig dutton

robbie beard

justin marsden

rory squire

subs used

craig herbert

jon douglas

Robbie Beard opened his tally for the season with a first half strike to claim Rugby’s first win of the season against Grantham Town.

The strike came in the 34^th-minute when Justin Marsden released Robbie Beard who, after a mazy run finally teed himself up ten yards out to fire home under Grantham goalkeeper Mario Ziccardi.

Tony Dobson named an unchanged side from the draw against Tiverton Town, with defender Craig Herbert returning to the squad after holiday.

On a hard and wet surface, the home side made a promising start with Dave Robinson making a break down the right-hand side, but Gary Redgate made a good challenge to block the winger.

The game was filled with overhit balls that skidded through to goalkeepers, and long looping balls and Rugby eventually created their first opportunity when Steve Evans slid the ball for Beard who cut inside and won a corner.  Jamie Williams’ flagkick was met with the head of Rory Squire who just headed the ball over the bar.

Grantham’s best chances seemed to come from long throws, which were causing problems in the Rugby box and the visitors were lucky not to concede as the ball bobbled around.

The home side seemed to be playing a game of territory, as they only looked dangerous when the ball broke loose for them on the edge of the area.  This gave Rugby a chance to get into the game and Marsden made a good break before his through-ball was just cut out, and Williams’ header from Gary Moran’s cross was comfortably saved.

Beard made another break down the right hand side before fizzing a ball across the box, which was just too far for Marsden.

Valley gifted Grantham a chance ten minutes before half time when Dean Thomas passed the ball straight out to Fabian Smith, who came close from long range.

Andy Commander did not deal with a long ball and Stuart Reddington broke free of the defence, but could not capitalise and could only shoot disappointingly wide.

At the other end, Moran got a lucky ricochet and the ball fell for top scorer Robbie Beard who could only shoot down Ziccardi’s throat from twenty-five yards.

Moran was again on hand to whip a dangerous cross in behind the Gingerbread defence before Beard opened the scoring.

After the goal, Grantham had some pressure and forced some corners with Thomas clawing from underneath the crossbar and then seeing the ball somehow hit the post form a deflected effort after a goalmouth scramble.

After an evenly contested half, with a poor standard of football, Rugby did just enough to be on top.

The second half started with plenty of battle and fight, but without the football once again.  To their credit, Rugby did try to play football at times, but as the game wore on the home side started to pump the ball forwards more and more.

There was little to comment on as it looked as if the game was petering out until twenty minutes from time, Dean Thomas allowed a harmless ball to squirm from underneath his body, before handling the resulting shot outside the area and incurring a straight red card.  This threw the game back into the home side’s favour, with defender Andy Commander forced to don the gloves. He was to be rarely tested, in fact, not at all.

The best the home side could come up with was a fine long range effort by Willis Francis which clipped the top of the crossbar and a dangerous cross which should have been met with by the head of Adrian Speed in an otherwise uneventful final few minutes.

So it was that Rugby did not play particularly well, battled hard, and did just enough to secure a valuable three points.