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Home >Story Index> Rushden 4 Swansea 0 |
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Report By Clive, Gareth and David Hughes |
| Well where do we start? The ground is very smart, but has a capacity of only 6,500, for what seems a very family orientated club. Free car park and reasonable charges, £11 & £6, for a good view behind the goal. We arrived early enough to see the team arrive, and by the players we saw coming off the coach expected no surprises. We were wrong, the non-playing manager today was Rog, replaced by Jason Jones for his first game of the season, Smith replaced O’Leary and also returns for Cusack and Phillips, with Williams back on the bench and Sidibe starting. What a start it was, Rushden were out of the blocks the faster, and after a bit of pressure the ball came to Hall, who, with the defence retreating, decided to have a pop from long range, a deflection took it away from Jones and into the corner of the net. 1 down after 2 mins not the start we needed after Saturdays mauling. Heads already appeared to go down and we struggled to contain the Rushden attacks ,although we did have one shot well saved by Turley in the Rushden goal. We did try to put some attacks together but most were hopeful balls without any real thought. Watkin was battling hard, but lack of control and no support saw the Rushden defence tidy up easily. On 17 mins thinks got worse, when again with the defence backing off, Lowe finished cleanly from inside the box on the Swans right. Whether it was a mixture of Rushden taking their foot off the gas, or just pure luck we got through to half time with no further mishaps. During the half time interval the subs (exc Rog) came out for a warm up, after only a few minutes Casey decided to sit it out on the bench. This speaks volumes about his current attitude. The team did put effort into the second half, nearly getting a goal from the kick off but stray passes, weak tackling and lack of thought told us there would be no way back. Within 10 mins of the restart the contest was over. On 54 Jones came out to collect a high through ball and fumbled leaving Angell with a simple tap into an empty net. Two minutes later it was 4-0 when with the defence in total disarray Lowe got his second placing the ball passed Jones from just inside the box. As we sit here we just can’t believe the score was not added to, as Rushden attacked at will through our defence like the proverbial knife through butter. We did have a couple of attempts at goal but by this time we were just wishing and waiting to be put out of our misery. Brodie replaced Sidibe and with 5 mins to go Casey replaced Mumford. We have had two very difficult games over Easter, but our limitations have been self-evident. It has been a very long season with many reports having the same theme. Effort but no result. The team is short on skill, physical presence, speed of thought and fitness. We are in a very poor division where with only slightly better aptitude could have seen us in the play-offs. Most teams have just had more of a will to win. This must change for next season. We have constantly heard that the team morale has been good, but teamwork has not shown on the pitch, today there were many glances and words exchanged from what looks a totally demoralised group of players. To end on one bright note, the travelling support of 500 kept up a constant barrage of noise which the fare on the pitch did not deserve, although the ‘dodgy keeper etc’ chants at Jones after his fumble was uncalled for. |
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