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7 October 2006

Fifths beaten, but not bruised

Rugby 5th XI  3  Coalville Town 5th XI  0

DTZ Central League South East Division Two

Coalville's fifth string fell to their second successive 3-0 defeat in DTZ Central League South East Division Two despite outplaying a much more experienced Rugby side at Lutterworth Grammar School.

Town again played some excellent stuff that had their opposition chasing shadows at times, but still lack that killer edge in front of goal that you only get with experience.

But there were many, many plus for Coalville, particularly the performance of Matt Wooldridge, who was outstanding from start to finish. Wooldridge and Josh McArthur combined well on the left to nearly set up an opening for Kris Webb.

James Dumelow was also working hard up front, and Adam Martin was seeing plenty of the ball in the centre of the park. At the back Coalville looked solid, with Tom Sloan, Richard Hope and Sean Rigley working well alongside old head Chris Ashton.

At half-time, the score was 0-0, and Town were delighted with their showing, and continued to pass the ball around nicely after the break. It was 10 minutes into the second half before Rugby finally managed to find a way through.

After being awarded a slightly dubious penalty corner, for a Coalville player clearing the ball off the line with the back of their stick, a Rugby player stepped up and fired the ball home hard and low into the bottom corner of the goal.

Coalville tried to fight back after this, and began pushing forward, only to get caught on the break and allow Rugby to double their lead. 

Dumelow continued to cause problems up front, combining effectively with Sam Edwards, McArthur and Wooldridge, but Town couldn't get through the experienced Rugby back line. 

Again the experience told late on as Rugby again hit on the counter to claim a third goal and all three points, but even the Rugby umpires had to admit it had been a good game and how Coalville had played the better hockey.

And considering for most of the players it's only their second competitive game, that's pretty high praise!