LONG
WAIT FOR A HOME JOY FINALLY OVER
A
battling Valley performance secured them a first
victory at Butlin Road in more than ten weeks
against top five side Biggleswade on Tuesday evening.
By
Jon Venner
Dave
Stringer’s men overcame the disappointment
of going behind on 32 minutes to bounce back and
take a 3-1 lead, before a late Waders strike set-up
a tense finale.
Stringer
gave a debut to new signing Ross Miller in his
midfield, and also recalled the available-again
Seb Lake-Gaskin to his starting line-up in place
of Tyrone Fagan.
With
the kick-off delayed more than half an hour after
some of the visitors’ squad were stuck on
the M1 following an accident, Rugby held their
own in the game’s opening exchanges against
a side defeated only three times in the league
previously this season.
Lake-Gaskin
was instrumental in most of the home team’s
highlights early on, including setting up Seb
Hamilton to finish neatly – only for the
goal to be chalked off after the striker was adjudged
to have strayed offside.
Aaron
James and Miller both fired in shots which narrowly
missed the target, whilst at the other end Valley
keeper Pete
Smith pulled off a fine save to deny Alex O’Brien.
However
shortly after that O’Brien did open the
scoring when he left Smith motionless for his
strike from twenty yards, with Rugby slow to close
down the Biggleswade midfielder.
The
hosts levelled proceedings on 38 minutes though
when Fagan outjumped keeper Sam Leggett to head
home Luke Leahy’s corner, although the visitors
ended the first period in threatening manner –
with O’Brien flashing the ball dangerous
across the box, and then later Brett Donnelly
missing a great opportunity with his head.
Biggleswade
also had the better chances at the beginning of
the second half, with Smith beating away a powerful
low strike from Ashley Fuller and denying O’Brien
– after the goalscorer had beaten the Valley
offside trap.
Luke
Keen then shot straight at Leggett, and Leahy
had the keeper stretching to catch his clever
chip from just inside the box, before the pace
of Lake-Gaskin was again in evidence with his
run into the area illegally halted by Peter Gatti
– leading to the award of a penalty.
Keen's
initial spot-kick was saved by Leggett, but fortunately
the rebound fell kindly to allow Keen to prod
the ball home from close range.
Rugby
increased their lead further with twelve minutes
remaining when Fagan played in Miller –
who ran on powerfully before catching Leggett
off-guard with a low strike into the bottom right
hand corner.
Michael
Williams' rising shot and a Keen long-ranger were
just dealt with by Leggett as a clearly more confident
Valley searched for a fourth.
However
a mistake in front of his own goal by skipper
Nik Preston gifted Donnelly with an easy finish
on 87 minutes – ensuring a nervy final few
minutes.
It
was end-to-end stuff, with the visitors pushing
hard for an equaliser and Rugby countering on
the break.
Fuller
rattled the post in added-on time, before Valley
really should have sealed it when Leahy played
in Lake-Gaskin – who skipped past the keeper
before seeing his shot blocked by a defender on
the line, with both him and Leahy also having
follow-up efforts saved by Leggett.
Valley
line-up: Smith; Williams, Leahy, Preston,
Moran; Gundelach (Allen), Miller (Steane), James;
Keen, Lake-Gaskin; Hamilton (Fagan). Sub
not used: Booth, Austin. Booked:
Allen.
Biggleswade
Town: Leggett, McGowan, Coakley, Gatti,
Hewitt, Rydeheard, Daniel, O’Brien, Barnes,
Donnelly, Fuller. Subs: Folds,
Field, Reynolds, Lockhead, Woolf.
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