| Rugby
Town 2-1 Gloucester City |
| BGB
Premier Division |
Tuesday,
22nd August 2006
Attendance
| 231
|
Entertainment |
|
Photo
Gallery
| Chris Tullin mounts a second half attack
Rugby
bounced back from the cruel disappointment of
their late defeat at Merthyr with another encouraging
performance and this time a victory against a
Gloucester side, which many are tipping for a
strong campaign in the BGBLP this season.
The
Valley success was achieved thanks to two goals
in less than a minute from strike pairing Jason
Taylor and David Stone, and underlined the spirit
that manager Billy Jeffrey is starting to build
in his young side this season, as it came after
the visitors had taken the lead with a deflected
free-kick shortly after the interval.
The
only change to the side from the weekend saw a
first start for new signing Aaron
Stringfellow at right-back in place of
the suspended Ross Harris.
Stringfellow impressed throughout with his vision
and calmness on the ball, and is clearly a more
than useful acquisition to Jeffrey's squad.
The
first half was a fairly uneventful affair, with
the best chance of the period falling to Gloucester
when Farhad Afandiyev had to be at full stretch
to touch over a Luke Corbett chip from 30 yards,
after Willis Francis had been dispossessed in
the centre of the park.
For
Town, a Tom Breward header from a Danny Hall corner
was saved low down by Matt Bath, and after a neat
move involving Stringfellow, Matt Gearing and
Stone, Taylor was just unable to meet the resulting
cross at the near post.
The
second period saw Rugby emerge with increased
confidence and pace, and they took the game to
their opponents from the off. Taylor had his shot
parried on 47 minutes, with both Hall then Gearing
unable to follow-up with clear strikes on goal.
Shortly
after, it was City however that took the lead
when substitute Alex Sykes - who had been on the
pitch for barely a minute - struck a free-kick
from 25 yards, which then deflected off the head
of Chris Tullin, leaving Afandiyev flat-footed
and unable to prevent the ball looping past him
into the goal.
Rugby
responded well to this blow though, and with Gearing
in particular starting to cause problems down
the right-wing, they pushed forward in search
of an equaliser.
On
58 minutes, Gearing's pin-point cross found the
head of Taylor, but his effort lacked power and
was easily gathered by Bath, and minutes later
in another free-flowing move involving Breward
and Gearing, the tall centre-forward's low diving
header this time spun wide of the post.
Tom
Webb struck the side netting for the visitors,
and another Sykes free-kick hurried Afandiyev,
but this time flew over the crossbar.
Valley
gained reward for the efforts on 78 minutes when
a high ball into the box struck the hand of Lyndon
Tomkins, which was spotted by an eagle-eyed linesman,
who signalled to the oblivious referee - who in
turn awarded the penalty kick.
Jason
Taylor volunteered to take the
kick, and coolly sent Bath the wrong way and stroked
the ball low into the corner of the net for his
first goal for the club.
Practically
from the restart, Francis sent a delicate chip
over the top of the Gloucester defence to find
David Stone
in space. Last season's top scorer controlled
the ball on the edge of the area and then confidently
stroked it past Bath to the delight of his team
mates and the Rugby bench.
There
was still time for a couple of scares for the
Rugby defence. Sykes should have done better when
he ghosted in at the far post, but his close range
effort was off-target, and then referee Caswell
awarded an indirect-free kick inside the penalty
area for obstruction, but Sykes was unable to
power his shot through the crowded box.
|
