| Rugby. What is it about Rugby? I've never been a fan of the oval ball game or the Warwickshire town that it was named after. If there's one game every season that I'll happily miss then this is it. |
| My first ever visit to Butlin Road was fifteen years ago, one game after City had smashed nine goals past the hapless Gosport Borough. However, four days and the ninety mile trip had changed Brian Godfrey's outfit from unstoppable to uninterested as VS Rugby walked away with an easy three goal victory and Martin Lander was dimissed after an hour for throwing a punch. |
| Around about the same time a Mrs Lyons was introducing young Jonny to the world and roll on to the present day and regular readers of Southern League websites will know of the pre-pubescent ginger pedant and his fellow fans' disdain for the clubs decision to merge with local junior club Rugby Town and adopt their name for next season. |
| Such has been the reaction to the news that a pocketful of fans have stopped supporting Rugby and have opted to follow other teams instead. Their grievance seems to be borne from the new clubs refusal to use the name 'VS' Rugby Town to remember the Butlin Road clubs' roots. Although I would've thought that as the junior team are receiving a huge grant then they might be in danger of losing it if it doesn't go to 'Rugby Town FC'. |
| As strange as it may be that the club has undergone several namings and renamings since that game in 1990 it's funny how they are still nicknamed 'The Valley'. Recently things haven't been going their way on the field and have found themselves involved in a relegation battle and before the game were just two places above the dropzone. |
| Ahead of the transfer deadline boss Tony Dobson strengthened his squad by borrowing striker Avun Jephcott from Nuneaton Borough and goalkeeper Robert Beckwith from Luton Town. The frontman had made a name for himself at Tamworth whilst on loan from Coventry City so his decision to move to Manor Park and not the Lamb following his release was a strange one. |
| Beckwith became the sixth man this year to don the number one jersey when he took over from the injured Mike Payne in March. City fans will remember Payne as the keeper who punched the ball into his own net as the Tigers put six past Rugby in January in a game that was as far removed as possible from the usual one-nil to Rugby scorelines that we've become used to. |
| For City Chris Burns used the game as an opportunity to test Andy Varnham against what is usally a mean, well organised backline. The young striker is one of Phil Warren's pupils at the posh Balcarras School in Chel-ten-ham, although judging by a few of the scrapes that Varnham got into today he's also a student at the Andy Hoskins school of hard knocks. |
Despite complaining about a sore back at the Supporters PES4 event the night before Lee Smith took his place in the team whilst Lyndon Tompkins and Neil Mustoe lined up in defence and midfield respectively for the last time this season thanks to their impending three match bans.
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| In front of a healthy number of fans it was the Tigers who took the game to their opponents from the off but we ought to know better than to expect us to score as the last goal I can remember from a City player at this ground was by Steve Abbley (now the Cirencester Chairman) about twelve years ago. |
| Chances did come for City though but the efforts by Daryl Addis and Adie Harris were both missing the target vertically and horizontally with the former registering as a blip on the radar at the nearby Coventry Airport. |
| Varnham was finding life against the likes of Adam Hart, Craig Herbert and Gary Redgate, all seasoned Southern League defenders much harder than what he'd been used to. Although in his capacity as the 'big man' up front (well, thats how I see his role) the eighteen year old did seem to be giving as good as he was getting and even earned a chat with the ref following an innoculous looking clash with one of the follically challenged Rugby men. |
| Talking of the man in black I must say he was the hardest looking official that we've seen for a long time and with tattoos up his arms, legs and neck even Neil Mustoe would've baulked at engaging in one of his trademark outbursts. |
| City were enjoying pretty much all of the possession but Varnham was struggling to find his shooting boots and whenever he reached for the ball an opponent seemed to get a bodypart to it before him. However this did come at a cost for the home players as left back Jamie Williams found out when he put his head down to the ball and got a kick in the face. |
| The nearest that the Tigers got to the Rugby goal was from corners and Dobson's men were more than capable of clearing them without breaking into a sweat. What didn't help was Mustoe's constant failure to cross the ball beyond the first defender. Some fans claimed that the Rugby player wasn't back ten yards although I doubt whether the City Captain would've got the ball over the defender had he been an extra from the Wizard of Oz. |
| The second of a pair of corners that was cleared came back in with Addis but the former Cinderford man's lob was easily held by the keeper. Daryl obviously isn't a whizz on the X-Box as a quick pull of the right trigger would cleared Beckwith, but he wasn't eligible for our PES4 tournament because Foresters are banned due to their advantage of having an extra thumb. |
| Nothing much changed as the half wore on. City had plenty of the ball but did nothing with it, Varnham continued to mix it with whoever got closest to him and miracle upon miracle Rugby had a shot when Jephcott dragged his effort wide under pressure from Lyndon Tompkins who slid across the penalty area like a trendy teenager on a snowboard. |
| Lee Smith had struggled to make an impact on the game but one excursion up the wing was brought to a halt illegally by Adam Hart who was booked whilst the City was on the floor receiving treatment. |
Smith came into the game more and set up Addis for a chance that the keeper was more than equal to. Incidentally had we had a better linesman the loanee from Luton would've been penalised every time he carried the ball out of the area whilst taking a drop kick.
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| But despite the Tigers dictating the play for large periods it was the home team that drew first blood when local lad Rory Squire (according to Mr Tannoy) appeared unmarked at the near post to head home a Rugby corner. The reactions of the City players said it all as Rugby scored with a set piece that looked as though it had been well practised whilst all Mustoe could muster with his efforts was heading practise for the first defender. |
| The goal really awakened the Valley and they could easily have gone in four goals up at the break when following a similar corner Matt Bath did well to clutch a header at the second attempt after he'd originally palmed it onto the bar. Robbie Beard, a striker who has somehow earned the stigma of being disliked by almost everyone in the league forced Bath into another save with a shot that looked to be heading the other side of goal before he'd struck it. |
| And having recovered from his boot in the face Jamie Williams was left in acres of space with Lee Smith caught upfield where he drove in a low shot from distance that Bath watched wide of his far post, althouth there did look like there was quite a gap between the City keeper and the far post. |
| The break came and went with Steve Turk's binocular's trained on the adjacent West Coast Main Line and when the teams retook the field City continued to press their hosts as they'd done in the first half with little reward. |
| But as these things go a slip up in the middle of the park gave possession to the home team and with a man over two quick passes and Jon Nicholls the mulleted midfielder had loads of time to shoot under Bath and double the home teams advantage. Rugby hadn't won at home since November! |
| Whether Rugby were out for revenge or not following the somewhat fortunate drubbing that we handed out to them at Meadow Park isn't clear but the way they were creating chances we looked very vulnerabe. Beard should've done much better when he cut inside Adie Harris and shot into the side netting after a deep cross had eluded the diminutive City man. |
| With neither striker looking like scoring City's best hope of a goal came from an unlikely source when Dave Wilkinson stayed strong to win control of a bouncing ball on the edge of the penalty area and Mustoe bullied his way into a gaggle of players to unleash a half volley that dipped at the last minute and brought the best out of Beckwith between the Rugby sticks. |
| Smithy was finding more room down the right hand side now and one time from a nicely weighted Tom Webb pass the highly rated wing back found Addis who was unlucky to see his close range effort smotherd by the Rugby keeper. |
Now we entered a spell where again City were left to dictate the play whilst Rugby sat back and soaked up the pressure, something they always seem very good at. Another thing which they do, and it isn't very fair to the paying spectator (especially when their team's losing) is time wasting. Not saying that we aren't all guilty of it to a certain extent but these guys are painfully good at it and was the reasoning for me once thinking that the 'VS' in their name stood for 'very slow' and not 'Valley Sports'.
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| With about twenty minutes to go, I can't be too precise as the game had drained all sense of time and importance out of me, both Andy Varnham and Adie Harris made way for Chris Burns and Jamie Reid. The young striker had done well enough to keep his place for the Hednesford trip to gain more first team experience ahead of next season. |
| The subs both went into the middle of the park with the Gaffer taking a more advanced role to try and unsettle to seemingly unbreachable trio of slapheads at the back. Well, they weren't all bald but they reminded me of ZZ Top but without hair instead of beards, and no-one thinks of the drummer do they? |
| Reid might've been hoping to start the game today but again had to make do with a place on the bench so it would've only compounded his disappointment following the three game annihilation that he suffered at my hands during the PES4 tourney eighteen hours earlier. |
| Smith had moved over to fill Harris' position but a predominently right footed player will always arc in towards goal from a wide position. This showed when he did exactly that and dragged a shot into the side netting when he had Addis and Burns crying out for a square ball in the area. |
| City were now desperately seeking a way to pierce the Rugby rearguard but we were finding it hard to gain possession and Tom Webb found himself cautioned after a slightly mistimed slide on Gary Moran. It looked as though the home player had made a meal of the foul so the City midfielder can feel aggrieved that his last two bookings haven't really been fully deserved. |
| The 'very slow' element of Rugby's game got worse as they prolonged every stoppage and it came to a fore when they wanted to bring on Justin Marsden for Beard, no doubt to waste time. |
| The ball had gone out for a goal kick towards the corner flag, Williams had gone to retrieve it but the goalkeeper shouted for him to leave it and trundled over to get it himself. Then he returned to the opposite side of the penalty area, wound himself up to take the goal kick (not like that old Evil Knevil toy but it paints a marvellous mental image) and up went the boards for the change. God I'd rather watch paint dry than watch this bunch every week. |
| A short spell of tedium followed before Rugby made another change as Craig Dutton made way for Danny Hall. At this point I don't think there was a person in the ground who didn't want the game to just end and even had a late effort which saw Bath parry a Marsden shot and another player shoot wide gone in, none of the City fans would've cared. |
| That's the effect that Rugby has on me. I was glad it was all over. |
| So we sit here with just three games remaining; Hednesford away, Kings Lynn at home and a trip to Banbury on the last day of the season, all three of which we could easily lose. Stamford and Solihull are down, Dunstable are all but and Hemel Hempstead are seven points behind City with a game in hand. I think we'll all be watching the Hertfordshire clubs' results with a keen eye! |
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| Tiger Roar Man of the Match - Dave Wilkinson |
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Dave Wilkinson
Star Man |
A match full of hard running with no result pretty much summed up the afternoon for everyone on the City team, although Wilko seemed to be the best at it. Varnham did well up front but like one fan said, he looked like a "Youth Team striker".
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