Rugby Town suffered a late defeat as Rothwell Corinthians came from behind to win a feisty encounter.
Manager Carl Adams had to make one change from the team which beat Desborough in the week, with Keenah Rosser coming in for the injured Jamal Clarke.
In an uninspiring opening half an hour the first effort on goal from either side came in the 28th minute when Rothwell's Andy White turned well in the box but could only send his shot wide.
The hosts went a little closer later when striker Dadzi Agbera hit an accurate shot, but again was wide of the target.
Rugby hardly threatened at all, with only Ryan Seal offering hope when his powerful free-kick hit the wall, and then the ball rebounded to Danico Johnson to strike over the bar, but much to the frustration of Johnson, he was adjudged offside anyway.
The second half thankfully was much better in terms of entertainment, but it was also a period which saw seven bookings spread over the two teams - including one for the Town manager Carl Adams.
However Caine Elliott put smiles onto the travelling supporters when he opened the scoring in the 53rd minute.
A cracking delivery from Seal found Liam Francis on the left near the penalty area and he put the ball back across the box precisely for the youngster to slide home for a decent team goal.
Rothwell were threatening an equalizer though and it arrived with just over a quarter of an hour remaining when Nat Gosnal Tyler smashed in a shot from ten yards out from a knockdown from substitute Craig Maisiri.
The game got very niggly towards the end, with tempers fraying and after Anthony Howell had a goal disallowed for Rugby fellow substitute Omar Recci was sent to the sin bin for dissent in the 85th minute to mean the visitors played out the game's conclusion with ten men.
Rothwell capitalised on their numerical advantage with a winning goal in the third minute of injury time, when Gosnal-Tyler got his brace after he turned in space, and saw his low shot quickly go past the stranded Sam Lomax in the Rugby goal.
Valley
Line-up: Lomax; Rosser, L Thomas, L Recci, Francis; Hancocks, Elliott; Parker (Howell), Evans (Revan), Seal (O Recci); Johnson. Subs not used: C Thomas, J Thomas. Booked: Elliott, L Recci. Sin Bin: O Recci. Sent off: O Recci. |