VALLEY
EMERGE ON TOP FROM GOALFEST
Town
emerged victorious from an eight goal game at
the Alfred Davis Memorial Ground last Saturday
to record their first league win in six attempts.
By
Jon Venner
Valley
had raced to a four goal lead within 55 minutes,
before sloppy defending gave Marlow a glimmer
of hope as the second half progressed, with the
hosts chipping away at the lead.
Therefore
whilst it could not really be described as a nerve
fraying affair, the final margin of Rugby’s
victory was in the end far closer than it should
have been.
With
Tyrone Fagan suspended and his potential replacement
Seb Hamilton unavailable through work, boss Dave
Stringer gave a full debut up-front to Seb Lake-Gaskin,
with Harry Harris replacing Andy Gundelach in
midfield.
Stringer
also stuck with keeper Pete Smith and Michael
Williams – both of whom had made their first
competitive appearances for the club four days
earlier in the cup win at Woodford – meaning
Gary Moran continued in a central defensive role.
The
first shot of the game came from the home side
though, with Gavin James driving one across the
face of the goal – only to be denied by
the legs of Smith.
Both
Robbie Banks and Luke Keen then went close for
Town, before Harris opened the scoring on sixteen
minutes when he curled his free-kick from 25 yards
around the base of the wall and into the bottom
corner.
Luke
Leahy did well on the left before flashing a dangerous
cross just out of the reach of the intended targets,
and Keen drew a fine save from Rhys Marshall as
Valley pushed for a second.
Leahy’s
excellent goal-line block of Aaron Crouch’s
effort after the Marlow wide-man had rounded Smith
preserved the visitors’ lead, before Keen
struck twice in close succession in the run up
to the interval.
He
neatly struck home Lake-Gaskin’s flick to
Smith’s long clearance on 41 minutes, before
prodding in again in added-on time to make it
three – much to the delight of the travelling
Valley faithful.
It
was goals galore in the second half, with Lake-Gaskin
getting deserved reward for his efforts ten minutes
into the new period, when he coolly finished off
a one-on-one with the Marlow keeper.
James
headed over from a good position for the hosts
shortly before Jermaine Roche showed him how it
was done by powering in Jon Case’s cross
after Williams had lost the ball cheaply.
Williams
soon made amends for his error though by sending
in a fine deep cross to allow Richard Wesley to
restore the four goal advantage with his head
on 64 minutes.
Another
suicidal piece of Rugby defending – this
time by Ben Steane – gifted Roche a second
though, allowing the striker to seize on a slack
back pass before skipping past Smith to score.
Keen
then twice went close to securing what would have
been a third hat-trick for the club, but first
saw his well-struck effort blocked by Marshall
and shortly after he had an angled shot tipped
over the bar by the busy keeper.
James’s
looping header late on made it 5-3, ensuring that
Valley had to be on their guard for the closing
minutes of the game.
There
was still time for Williams to test Marshall with
a long range effort after he had broken with pace
down the right, and Roche also missed the opportunity
of bagging a treble when he spooned one over the
bar with the last attacking play of the match.
Rugby
line-up: Smith, Williams, Leahy, Preston, Moran,
Harris (Da Costa), Steane, Banks, Keen, Lake-Gaskin
(Wilson), Wesley. Sub not used: S.Thomas
Marlow
line-up: Marshall, Case, A.James, T.Willment,
Benmadani, Isaac, MacLellan, D.Willment, G.James,
Roche, Couch, Subs: Avery, Mealing, Thomas, Gray,
Cockerill.
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