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Hitchin
Town 1-0 Rugby Town
Southern
League Premier Division
Saturday,
19th November 2005
Attendance
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| Entertainment |
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Despite
dominating the game for large periods, Town slipped
back into the SLPD relegation zone after the defeat
at Hitchin thanks to an early solitary goal for
the home side from Daniel French.
Rugby
had started the game brightly and twice David Stone
got behind the Hitchin back-line, only to see his shots
both times easily gathered by goalie Richard Wilmot.
Then on 10 minutes and against the run of play
Joss Sozzo cleverly released French, who directed his
first-time shot past Farhad Afandiyev to open the scoring.
Stone
was unfortunate minutes later, when he was ruled offside
after he had rounded the keeper and stroked the ball
home after he had appeared to seize on a sloppy back-pass
from a Hitchin defender. Unfortunately the assistant
referee decided that the initial through ball had come
from a Rugby player and disallowed the goal. Delroy
Gordon's persistence nearly paid off later in the half
when he charged down a clearance from Wilmot, but was
then unable to gain full control of the deflected ball.
Hitchin's
best spell of the game came mid-way through the second
half, when a James Ayres header struck the crossbar
and Sozzo squandered a golden opportunity to increase
the lead when the ball ran under his foot with an open
goal in front of him.
Kevin
Slinn should have done better with a near post
attempt on 75 minutes, after a fine cross from
substitute Danny Williams, and then at the death another
crossed ball - this time from Steve Evans - found the
head of Stone, but his effort failed to trouble the
Hitchin keeper and Town returned home empty handed.
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