ILL TEMPERED DERBY ENDS IN STALEMATE AGAIN

It was local derby stalemate for the second time this season between Rugby and Woodford, after a game that will be as much remembered for its peripheral action than its quality of play.

By Jon Venner.

Photo: Martin Pulley

Striker Seb Hamilton presses for a winner against a dogged 10-man Woodford United at Butlin Road

Proceedings boiled over on three separate occasions – once in each half and again just after the final whistle – with scenes more reminiscent of an ice hockey fixture than a footballing one.

The Daventry-based visitors’ tactics on the day could be best described as clinical at best, with a series of late challenges incensing a number of the Town players – Ben Steane and Seb Hamilton in particular.

Therefore it was no surprise that the game ended without a full complement on pitch, with Woodford’s chief protagonist Daniel Burke seeing red just after the hour mark.

Things had started brightly for a Valley side showing two changes from their previous game more than fortnight ago – with Lee Parsons handed a debut and Tyrone Fagan back in the side after injury. Gary Moran and Richard Wesley were the players to miss out on a place in the starting line-up as a result.

Fagan blazed well over the bar with barely a minute on the clock, United’s Jerry Moss denied Luke Keen after Seb Hamilton had flicked on Dave Clarke’s long upfield punt, and Fagan had another opportunity in the box in an opening fifteen minutes that saw Rugby virtually encamped in the opposition half.

This early dominance saw Woodford retreat in defence, and despite further chances in the first half for Keen, Hamilton and the best of the lot for skipper Nik Preston – who just failed to force home the ball on the goal-line – Town lost their early rhythm and struggled to break down the mob-handed defence facing them.

Steane had been incensed by a late challenge from Burke in the game’s opening exchanges, and when the same two players clashed again on 27 minutes, there followed an unsightly multi-player melee in the centre circle, which young referee Chris Marsden struggled to break up.

Paddy Connolly was forced to leave the field after an aerial clash not long after, and a series of niggly challenges followed from both sides, as the game frustratingly stuttered towards the interval.

Woodford’s only real chance of the first half came late-on when ex-Valleyite Neil King forced Clarke into a neat save at his near post.

Nathaniel Liburd’s acrobatic overhead effort brought another good stop from Clarke near the start of the second period, but thereafter Valley dominated possession but once more lacked the necessary threat to penetrate.

Another flashpoint saw a second mass coming together of players, and as a result Marsden sent Burke back to the dressing room.

The introduction of Wesley did finally provide some much-needed width for Town, and they pushed hard to break down a resolute ten man Woodford in the final twenty minutes, without ever really looking convincing in the process.

Substitute Moran had a shot deflected for a corner and Woodford keeper Matt Finlay pulled out a fine double save – first parrying Keen’s powerful volley from the edge of the area and then smothering the rebound at the feet of Wesley.

Fagan then found himself some space in the area, but lead with his right foot when a swinging left may have done the trick, and Steane’s weak effort was easily gathered by Finlay.

Danny Edmond nearly finished off a goalmouth scramble but his shot was blocked and Preston drilled a final effort wide, before Marsden ended the game prompting a final angry ill-tempered coming-together.

Valley Line-up: Clarke; Heath, Phipps-Hall (Wesley), Preston, Gourlay; Parsons, Steane, Connolly (Moran); Fagan, Keen (Edmond), Hamilton. Subs not used: TBC. Booked: Steane, Heath. Sent Off: None.

Woodford line-up: Finlay, Clarke, Kinch, Harris, Jackson, Moss, Farden, Burke, Liburd, King, Pearman. Subs: Ruddick, Davies, Ridley, Baxter, Roberts.