| Rugby
Town 1-0 Team Bath |
| BGB
Premier Division |
Saturday,
2nd September 2006
Attendance
| 222
|
Entertainment |
|
 |
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Jason
Taylor fights aerially during the first half |
One
of the game's classic and much touted clichés
is that football is a game of two halves, and
this was certainly the case at Butlin Road last
Saturday, when Town eventually held on for a 1-0
victory against Team Bath.
The
Valley dominated the opening half of the game,
and as such were good value for the lead given
to them by David Stone on 33 minutes. However
the second period of the game saw them surrender
the initiative to the visitors, and they should
count themselves lucky to emerge with all three
points.
The
second half survival was achieved thanks to a
combination of solid defending from the Rugby
back-four and an evident lack of firepower from
the Team Bath attack.
Manager
Billy Jeffrey had named an unchanged line-up for
the fourth time in succession, and saw his side
look sharp from the off. In the first minute of
the game, a long ball over the top of the Bath
defence released Stone, but his subsequent shot
was saved low down by the advancing Richard De
Villiers.
The
student’s only significant attempt on goal in
the first period saw a looping header from Sean
Canham bounce back into play off the crossbar,
but it was Town that continued to look dangerous
- playing some neat passing football and causing
concern for a nervy looking Bath defensive unit.
Another
looping header, this time for Rugby from Tom Breward
also struck the bar on 25 minutes, and a Jason
Taylor header from a corner which rippled the
net was disallowed for pushing.
On
33 minutes, a clever defensive splitting ball
from Willis Francis released Stone through the
middle once more, but he saw his first effort
parried by De Villiers and then his follow-up
strike saved off the line by defender Kes Metitiri.
Fortunately
Stone's strike partner Taylor was on-hand to regain
possession, and the ball fell for a third time
to David Stone
in the box. This time he unleashed a fine curling
effort into the top of the net, and the lead was
Rugby's.
Team
Bath emerged for the second half in determined
mood, and substitute Jake Reid and Canham both
sent shots wide in close succession. Matt Taylor
then headed over when unmarked from a free-kick,
and Farhad Afandiyev did well to touch over a
long-range effort from Sami El-Abd.
Jeffrey
tinkered with his line-up and formation with the
introduction of new loan signing Tom Manship and
then Mike Feely in place of the tiring Danny Hall
and Matt Gearing, but Team Bath were still in
the ascendance, and they wasted another free header
from close range - this time from Canham.
Town
finally managed to threaten their opponents' goal
late in the game, when another clever through
ball from Francis found Taylor in space. After
showing a good first touch and leaving De Villiers
sprawling on the ground, the striker couldn't
apply the necessary power to his shot, which was
blocked by a defender, and in doing so failed
to cap an overall hard-working performance for
the summer signing.
Just
before the final whistle, Stone had another opportunity
to make the match safe, when a long-throw from
Mike Feely saw him once more get behind the rear
of the Bath defence However De Villiers made a
comfortable save from his goal-bound shot.
Report
by Jon Venner.
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