Rushden Report

[fct]

City won 1-0 against Rushden & Diamonds tonight to stem the recent run of poor results, and but for some woeful finishing should have won by far more.

Leroy Lita was the goal hero, heading home on 29 minutes from an Aaron Brown headed pass at the far post. Lita had an eventful game, being booked for diving shortly after his goal and was subsituted in the second half as he faded.

City's approach play in the second half of the second half was more like their old selves but in the first half their attacks were disjointed, both Tinnion and Roberts firing high and wide from outside the box, whereas Rushden looked tidy and incise and attacked with some purpose, but City's defence, their strong point this season, held off the visitors.

City forced a series of corners early on but they came to naught, and apart from Lita;s goal in the first half didn't look like scoring. Aaron Brown, who had already been kicked hard by ex-Rovers player Marcus Bignot, was hurt in a tackle by the touchline at the Wedlock End and was stetchered off with a suspected broken ankle. He was replaced by Marc Goodfellow.

City began the second half brightly and had Rushden backpeddling. From a corner Andy Edwards headed against his own crossbar and Roberts sent a flashing shot into the midriff of Billy Turley. But Rushden suddenly broke out and former West Ham and Newcastle striker Paul Kitson was put through but slammed his shot against the base of the far post.

City then turned the screw on Rushden and really should have buried them. Goodfellow wasted a sitter after being beautifully put through by Doherty after a one-two and Roberts had a fierce shot tipped away by Turley, then later blasted over wastefully twice.

Peacock shot tamely on one occasion and then more fiercely from long range but Turley was equal to it. Lita was replaced by Miller and Doherty by Fortune, and Fortune went close with a snap shot that flashed narrowly over. Roberts was causing some problems down the right wing but time again either the final ball was wasted or the move came to naught as City's forwards found yet again an inability to turn pressure into goals.

Rushden piled forward in the last few minutes but were unable to save the game and it was City who came away with the three points.

Phillips: 6. Made two punches to clear dangerous crosses, apart from that had little to do.

Carey: 7. Assured and confident performance, linked well down the right and is coming into form just at the right time. Made a couple of timely tackles.

Coles: 6. Another sure performance, no nonsence clearances and played with great poise.

Butler: 6. Solid, uncomplicated, more like his old self.

Hill: 6. Had a few problems but battled hard and eventualy came out on top.

Roberts: 6. Frustrating to watch as he creates so many opportunities through his pace but again and again wastes them. Ran hard and offered an opening on the right that has been missing recently.

Doherty: 6. Not his usual dominating performance but held the middel together nontheless. Subbed by Fortune after getting a knock in the second half.

Tinnion: 6. His passing still is easily the best in the squad, but even he misplaced a few tonight. Showed some of the younger ones how to run at times!

Brown: 6. Was having a reasonable game until Bignot got him. Subbed by Goodfellow just before half time.

Peacock: 6. Battles well, links great, is a good target man. But he just cannot score and this is the main problem for the team at present.

Lita: 6. Scored. Got booked. Got subbed by Miller in the second half. apart from that had a few neat passes but showed some terrible positional awareness.

subs. Goodfellow: 5. What little he did showed Roberts-esque tendencies in using his pace to get into great positions then wasting them.

Miller: 6. Fair imitation of Peacock.

Fortune: 7. A player for the future surely. His size alone intimidates opponents and nearly scored.

[tompo]

I will beat Hornbeam Red to the punch here.

It was ironic that probably the one and only cross that Goodfellow delivered from the left last night was with his right foot.

A left winger? Surely the forum can't be wrong.

The other irony was that Miller came on and delivered two quality crosses but was obviously not in the best position to do anything with them.

Overall it was a poor game but we were never really in trouble.

I thought Carey and Coles were the pick of the bunch. Carey gets a lot of stick but I think over the course of the season so far he has been of our more reliable players.

[bobby]

Thought at times last night our game really came together and showed something of the skill and form we know we can achieve.

However, agree with fct that finishing really let us down again - we set up some great chances only for shots to be too weak or off target!

Hill had a poor game in my opinion - distribution was appalling and left them too much space on the left. Aaron covered this before he went off, but Goodfellow not good enough defensively to cover for Hill, so caused a few problems there.

Lita scored, but otherwise I have to say I didn't think he had a good game, didn't link up well with Peacock and didn't get into the box enough.

Roberts and Carey I thought worked really well down the right, even though Roberts let us down a few times with poor decisions over shooting (off target) rather than crossing.

But we won, and I enjoyed it. Thought the atmosphere was excellent and the EE did us proud again.