Cirencester Town 1-2 Rugby Town

Southern League Premier Division

Tuesday, 25th October 2005

Attendance | 168

The Valley recovered from the disappointment of defeat at Salisbury with a hard-fought victory against Cirencester on a wet and blustery Tuesday night in Gloucestershire.

With first choice goalkeeper Karl Lewis unavailable, manager Billy Jeffrey drafted in Long Buckby stopper Paul Warnecki for the game, and also gave a debut to Notts County youth trainee Chris Rhodes in place of Michael Hegarty in midfield.

Rugby started the game dominantly, and gained early reward for this when David Stone broke through the Cirencester defence and pulled the ball back for Chris Tullin to calmly sidefoot home after just 2 minutes.

With the weather conditions making it difficult for either side to play attractive football, goalscoring chances were few and far between, though Stone did well when he cut in from the left and brought a fine save from Steve Book in the Cirencester goal.

In the final quarter an hour of the half however, a series of defensive uncertainties and failed attempts to clear the ball from dangerous areas, saw Cirencester heap pressure on the Rugby back-line, and it was no surprise when on 33 minutes Michael Jackson brought the home side level after a corner from the left hand side.

Warnecki then made a fine save from a well-struck Gary Horgan shot and a Gus Fraser free-kick narrowly missed the target.

Rugby re-established control of the game again from the start of the second half, with Stone unfortunate to see his shot hit the side netting on 57 minutes.

In a carbon copy move to their opening goal, the Valley regained the lead on 75 minutes when this time Rhodes broke through from a wide position and squared the ball for Stone to stroke the ball home for his eighth goal of the season.

The remainder of the game saw Cirencester push forward in numbers in an attempt to grab another equaliser, but Town's rearguard stood firm against the onslaught - with Craig Herbert and Steve Farmer at its core in particularly dominant form.

Another fine Warnecki save from Horgan in the closing minutes ensured that the score remained unaltered and the Valley moved up two places in the SLPD to 19th place.