Saturday 24 March 2007

Attendance | 184

Valley debuts were given to David Staff, Parys Okai and Alex Bolt, with Tom Breward also included after returning from a four month spell away from the club. Willis Francis had been ruled out of the side with a back injury, and Matt Gearing missed out on a league start for the first team this season, with Danny Hall, Jamie Williams and Andy Commander left out of the sixteen man squad altogether.

	See Jason Taylor's 21st goal of the season from the penalty spot to give Rugby a second half lead

Victory was obtained thanks to a goal just two minutes from the end of normal time from debutant Okai, after an evenly contested game which had seen fortunes ebb and flow for both teams.

Yate had taken the lead after just six minutes when David Elsey's teasing free-kick was powerfully headed home by Bluebells' defender Scott Brice.

The scores were level ten minutes later after a neat one-two between Bolt and Jason Taylor, before the former cut the ball across the box for David Stone to tap home from close range.

Bolt himself shot narrowly over shortly after good work from Okai, and Brice was then on-hand with a late saving tackle on Stone - with once more Okai the provider with an excellent through ball.

The home side responded well to Rugby's attacking momentum, by creating a series of chances of their own. Chris Tullin was the Valley's saviour on a number of occasions, making a crucial intervention from Adam Simms’s cross and then heading a goalbound effort from a corner off the line.

Yate striker Aaron Blakemore also had a trio of opportunities in the run-up to half-time, with his volley bringing a fine save from Farhad Afandiyev and then a further chance seeing another effective intervention from Tullin, before striking the crossbar with his header with Afandiyev merely a spectator this time.

The second half continued in pretty much the same vein as the first, with both sides threatening in an end-to-end encounter.

Blakemore put in another volley, which was just off-target, and Taylor headed wide after the increasingly influential Staff had picked him out with a cross.

It was Rugby that took the lead in the 63rd minute with Staff again combining well with Taylor, which led to Bolt being released in the penalty box.

Bolt was then squeezed out by two Yate defenders and went to the ground, earning his side a penalty in the process. Jason Taylor stepped up and stroked the spot-kick into the net - despite the valiant efforts of home keeper Sam Pearce, who had guessed the right way.

Tullin again was on-hand to stop Blakemore's run on goal after a slip from Okai, before Stone had a glorious chance to put the game out of the hosts' reach, when he rounded Pearce seven minutes later, but somehow failed to hit the by-now unguarded target with his hurried shot.

Yate made the visitors pay for that missed opportunity when Blakemore fired home on 72 minutes after Lee Bridson had been the first to act on Craig Herbert's poor clearance.

Both sides went in search of winner, and Pearce smothered another Stone effort from the edge of the area and Staff shot just over the bar, whilst an unmarked Brice headed straight at Afandiyev from just eight yards out.

The Valley then squandered a wonderful break where they outnumbered the opposition by four players to one, when Stone's cross lacked the necessary precision, before Parys Okai struck the fatal blow in the 88th minute - slotting home after comical Yate on the goal-line defending had enabled substitute Matt Gearing a chance to pull the back into his path.

Rugby Lineup

	Farhad Afandiyev
	Aaron Stringfellow
	Chris Tullin
	Craig Herbert (c)
	Delroy Gordon
	Parys Okai Scored 1
	Alex Bolt
	Tom Breward
	Jason Taylor Scored 1 (p)
	David Stone Scored 1
	DAVID STAFF Star Man

Used Substitutes

	David Kolodynski
	Matthew Gearing