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Tiverton
Town 2-2 Rugby Town
Southern
League Premier Division
Saturday,
25th March 2006
Attendance
| 372
| Entertainment |
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A
Rugby side down to the bare bones after late player
withdrawals put in an admirable performance at the Ladysmead
Ground on Saturday, sharing four goals and the points
with Tiverton Town.
With
Rushden & Diamonds recalling youngsters Tom Shaw
and Ricardo Joseph for the weekend, and striker Robbie
Beard also declaring himself too unfit for the long
trip to Devon, Valley manager Billy Jeffrey was forced
into giving a debut to reserve team trialist Elliot
Grey and also had to install three untested youth teamers
on his bench.
The
long journey appeared to have no affect on the visitors,
as they created problems for their hosts from the off.
Rugby took the lead after just two minutes when David
Stone's shot from the edge of the box after a fine individual
run was parried by Tivvy keeper Mark Ovendale, and Kevin
Slinn was on-hand to slot home the rebound.
They
doubled their advantage just minutes later when Steve
Evans finished off a Chris Tullin cross, and
were unlucky not to extend this further shortly after
when Ovendale saved at close range from Slinn.
Spurred
on by a vociferous crowd - swelled by a contingent of
Stockport County supporters en-route back from their
postponed fixture at Torquay - the home side pulled
themselves back into the game in the second part of
the first half, with first Jamie Mudge and then Richard
Pears taking advantage of defensive hesitancy to bring
the scores level in the 23rd and 40th minutes respectively.
Rugby
defended heroically in the second half, with Mudge in
particular looking lively and most likely to secure
a decisive goal. Local youngster 17 year-old David Kolodynski
performed well in a wide right role on his introduction
just after the restart, with Jeffrey forced into a defensive
re-shuffle after skipper Craig Herbert's calf injury
finally forced him from the field. Fellow youth team
player Shane Wilson also made his debut ten minutes
from the end.
Valley
even had opportunities to grab an unlikely victory,
with a Matt Green effort striking the crossbar and a
Tim Wooding free-kick being cleared off the line in
the second half.
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