LETHAL
BRAKES DEAL RUGBY CRUEL BLOW IN FULL-BLOODED DERBY
Rugby
fell to another defeat against their arch rivals,
but their performance warranted at least a point
with some encouraging signs for manager Lee Colkin
to work on in future games.
By
Craig Webb.
Photo:
Martin Pulley |
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Valley's
new recruit Ross Oulton
had an encouraging display in midfield
but could not lead the visitors to victory |
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Town
made one change from the line up that started
against Nuneaton with Matt Gearing coming to replace
Josh Thompson who was on the bench, with new players
Aaron Stringfellow and Sam Birtwhistle also among
the substitutes.
The
opening 5 minutes started at a frenetic pace with
both teams having early chances to take the lead.
Luke
Corbett nearly gave the home side a dream start,
with a 1st minute shot, but was comfortably saved
by Andy Stevens.
Ross
Oulton who has been showing promise at Rugby,
went on a long run through the centre of midfield,
but his attempted shot was easily crowded out.
Town
made a promising start, and Oulton found David
Staff free in a dangerous position but he overcooked
his touch, enabling the Leamington defender to
snuff out the chance.
Rugby
were clearly playing the better football, but
they were dealt a cruel blow in the 29th minute
when the home side took an undeserved lead through
there first real opportunity in the game.
Mark
Bellingham tapping in from 3 yards from a cross
which eluded Rugby’s defence.
Despite
this setback, Rugby kept pushing forward with
David Staff and Liam Nicell having speculative
efforts.
With the wind howling and rain pouring down,
The
New Windmill ground near Harbury can be an isolated
place, and the slippery condition of the pitch
was leading to a scrappy affair with neither side
unable to play attractive football with the game
being interrupted several times through bad tackles
leading to free kicks.
Gearing
was the subject of one heavy tackle, with Stuart
Herlihy being one of 6 players being cautioned.
The
home side extended their lead midway through the
second half when good build up play from their
own half resulted in substitute Matt Lewis delivering
a perfect cross for Corbett to beat Chris Tullin
to the ball and slide into the net past Stevens.
Rugby
though were not giving up and pulled a goal back
15 minutes from time when Matt Brown scored for
the second successive game when he pounced on
a loose ball from Gearing’s cross.
The
small band of travelling fans sensed an equaliser
was on the cards, but despite putting a lot of
pressure on Leamington, a weak shot by Oulton
easily saved by Chris Kiely was all they could
manage in the final moments.
In
the 3rd minute of injury time, Leamington were
reduced to 10 men when Michael Tuohy was sent
off for a horrendous late tackle on Andy Stevens,
when the goalkeeper had the ball in his hands.
The
game lived up to a full bloodied derby but Town
will rue missed chances, and hope the congested
fixture list will produce better results in the
coming weeks.
Valley
Line-up: Stevens; Nicell (Stringfellow),
Tullin, Gordon, Love (Birtwhistle); Fellows, Oulton,
Youngs; Staff (Thompson), Gearing; Brown.
Subs not used: Richards, Bell. Booked:
Love, Oulton, Tullin, Fellows. Sent off:
None.
Leamington:
Kiely, Jackson, Husband, Sanders, Lycett, Knight,
Faulds, Herlihy, Bellingham, Corbett, Batchelor.
Subs: Lewis, Murphy, Reynolds,
Cooper, Tuohy.
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