SAME MISTAKES - SAME RESULT

Rugby Town suffered another heavy defeat as their torrid start to the season continued in the New Forest in Hampshire.

By CRAIG WEBB.

Photo: CS

Rugby's Jason Ramsay holds the ball up in the Bashley area during the first half

Manager Tony Dobson named an unchanged side from the bank holiday defeat to Leamington with Ben Twigger still injured. Town actually started quite well with the defence looking better, but this was to be a false dawn.

Rugby’s first promising move of the game came when Matt Gearing collected the ball, but instead of crossing the ball in the danger area he passed to Marcel Simpson but it had too much pace for the midfield man and the attack was lost.

Jason Ramsay then had another chance, teasing the defence with a powerful run and his cross found David Kolodynski whose shot came back off the post.

The home side, who were trying to maintain their 100% home record, got the lead in the 19th minute through Chris Knowles who took advantage of indecision in the Rugby defence before powering his shot past Andy Stevens.

Bashley took no time doubling their lead with Adam Kelly scoring with a low header from Dave Allen’s cross just three minutes later.

Bashley by now were playing with a swagger and confidence and it was no surprise they made it 3-0 on 38 minutes, Knowles scoring his second completely unmarked in the bottom right corner.

Their dominance was confirmed when they made it four, just before half time when Mark Gamble ran through the defence unchallenged to unleash his shot past the helpless Stevens.

Manager Dobson changed the formation for the second half taking off the full backs, Liam Nicell and Harry Donaghey bringing on midfielders Shawn Richards and Neil Melvin, with Simpson dropping back to defence.

Bashley inevitably took the foot off the gas with such a lead and David Kolodynski nearly capitalised but his shot was easily saved by David Elm.

Other than half chances Rugby failed to penetrate the home defence, although Jason Ramsay could have done better when the ball came to him from Craig Herbert’s corner.

Andy Stevens was again Rugby’s saviour, preventing the score from being higher with variety of saves and blocked shots.

Town managed to keep the score down in the second half, but still did not disguise the shortcomings of the team, knowing that the team need to get 3 points soon, to avoid being left adrift at the bottom of league with the hope that an FA Cup win over Dudley Sports will lift both confidence and morale for the team and the supporters.

Valley Line-up: Stevens; Nicell (Richards), Donaghey (Melvin), Herbert, Gordon; Gearing, Purton, Simpson, Staff; Kolodynski, Ramsay. Subs not used: Castleton, Davis, Bell. Booked: None. Sent off: None.

Bashley: Elm, Castle, Ferrett, Middleton, Parnell, Knowles, Kelly, Mason, Allen, Gamble, Knight. Subs: Gazzard, Maxwell, Tarr, Bray, Prodomo.