| Rugby
Town 0-1 Chippenham Town |
| BGB
Premier Division |
Tuesday
20 March 2007
Attendance
| 149
|
Entertainment |
|
Another
soul-less performance from the Valley saw them suffer
a single goal defeat to play-off chasing Chippenham
at a bitterly cold Butlin Road on Tuesday night.
A
floodlight failure at half-time literally added
to the darkness encapsulating Rugby's fortunes
at the moment, following a first period which
must rate as the most disappointing 45 minute
display witnessed at the ground this season.
Once
the lights had been repaired, Town did show a
mild improvement in the second half, but still
rarely extended Bluebirds keeper Chris Snoddy
in the process.
The
winning goal had come in the 33rd minute of that
highly forgettable first half, when Chippenham's
Chris Knight seized on a header from Craig Herbert
and then drilled his shot under the body of Farhad
Afandiyev.
David
Gilroy could have doubled the visitors' advantage
before half-time, but his header cannoned off
the crossbar. Skipper Ian Herring also had two
shots on goal and Delroy Gordon made a fine saving
tackle with Sean Seavill just about to fire the
trigger from a dangerous position in the box.
Losing
the influential Willis Francis with a back injury
mid-way through the half had not helped Rugby's
cause to be fair, but apart from a threatening
cross from the right-wing from David Stone which
Snoddy cut out low-down and an appeal for handball
from Matt Gearing's centre, there was little to
excite the home supporters.
The
Valley put together a more encouraging spell just
after the restart, and on 52 minutes Stone, Jason
Taylor and David Kolodynski combined well to create
a shooting opportunity for Danny Hall.
Taylor
then headed wide from Chris Tullin's looped cross,
and Herbert's back-header from Hall's corner also
drifted past the post.
The
Bluebirds responded with Gilroy latching onto
another misplaced defensive header from Herbert,
but Afandiyev was able to parry his weak shot
behind for a corner. Afandiyev also made a comfortable
save from Seavill, after the lively striker had
beaten a couple of defenders on his direct run
towards goal.
Hall's
inswinging free-kick with ten minutes remaining
almost did the trick for Rugby, but Kolodynski
was just unable to make contact with the ball
with his head and Snoddy was able to gather.
Shortly
after, Snoddy again had to be alert in getting
across his line to save Taylor's goal-bound header
from Andy Commander's deep cross.
Commander
was sacrificed shortly after as Rugby bolstered
attacking numbers, but they were unable to snatch
that late and vital equaliser.
Report
by Jon Venner.
Links
>> Around
the League: Chippenham Town
>>
Previous
Meetings: Rugby v Chippenham
>> Official
Chippenham Town Website
|
