Well, that’s another glorious three points in the bag, and also a giant step towards Division 2 football next season! Mind you, it wasn’t pretty and maybe not deserved. Both teams were poor today, and the nasty combination of torrential rain, and a pitch of mud mixed with a dollop of sand didn’t help too. All the bookies, County fans and even Rushden fans had this down as a home win, most even predicting a thrashing. Yes it was a home win, but it so easily could have been a terrible draw and was without a doubt NOT a thrashing. If a random person had stepped into EP during the second half and watched 5 minutes, they would have thought that it was a game between 2 mid table teams that didn’t really matter. This in itself was disturbing; the seemingly lack of commitment from a team scrapping in relegation. Oh well, at the end of the day the result is all that matters, and we have finally climbed out of the dreaded bottom four.

The game started with a high pace, with each team running at the other. I find that the first 5-10 minutes is sort of like the ‘testing’ period. The players want to find out a bit about the other side and how to exploit them. I also think that the first ten minutes can be a good indicator to the result. If a team is really under the cosh in the first ten, you find that they go on to lose. Luckily for us, it was pretty much even Stevens in the opening stages, with perhaps Rushden just edging it in the possession stakes. There were no real match changing incidents in the first 15-20 minutes, but they were coming.

The first real chance, which was ironically created out of nothing, came from our very own scouse-born Ricky Lambert. Incidentally, he was awarded the official MOM today. Anyway, the ball came from about 20 foot in the air straight on to his chest, just on the edge of the keeper’s area closest to the Cheadle End. When he receives the ball it is hard to know what he is going to do, which is probably why he is such a handful for opposing teams. Will he control it and run, smack it or cross it? In this instant he chose the second option. Oblivious to the onrushing defenders he hit a sweet volley that beat the keeper, but also the post. This was definitely something to cheer about in the incoming downpour of rain.  

However, it wasn’t long before Anthony Williams was tested. We all know by now he has a tendency to stand off his line, sometimes with nasty results. Perhaps the Rushden midfielder spotted this, perhaps he just swung a leg at the ball. Either way, an ambitious half volley from about 25 yards out turned into an easy save for Willow, and also a chance for him to have a feel of the ball and get a bit of confidence.

Another chance of the half (unfortunately) fell to Williams of the Ashley variety. A bit of a scrabble scrap in their penalty area let the ball bobble its way to Williams. A striker very well may of hit the back of the net; all Ash managed was the back of the Cheadle End. Oh well, he is a defender after all and he definiely struck it like a defender. While I am on the subject of Williams, he worried me at times today. It is always encouraging being able to hear the defender shout “IVE GOT!”, but not so encouraging when they completely miss it after. Mistakes like that cost goals. To put it into perspective though, he was only guilty of this a couple of times. However, as I will come to later, it could be argued one of these mistakes caused their goal.

Anyway, there was a red card in this half, a correct decision IMO. A good ball with a nice bit of pace on it put Alby through on goal. IMO the defender clearly brought him down. The rules state that if the defender is the last man and they illegally stop a goal scoring chance, a red card is the punishment. True to the rules Dempster (I think) took the walk of shame.

Perhaps the best chance of the half fell to Cartwright (or maybe Alby; my contact lenses are a bit shitty!:P) A pass from the middle of the pitch set him free with just the keeper to beat. Unfortunately he put it agonisingly wide when it probably would have been easier to score.

We were creating chances, especially after they had their player sent off. Welsh was back on the wing in place of Jackman and was quite easily turning the Diamonds defenders inside out. I thought that the quality of his crosses were good in the first half too. It was just a shame no one was getting on the end of them. Daly also had a chance to get through on goal, but bizarrely the ref blew his whistle, made Daly come off the pitch, and then walk back on! Weird! “Oh well”, I thought, “at least we’re creating chances”. But as we have found earlier on in the season, chances count for nothing if you don’t convert them.

At half time the 0-0 score line could be said to be flattering on Rushden. In my eyes they had no real chances of scoring. Or perhaps, as they say, ignorance is bliss and they had loads of chances:P!! To be truthful, they fell apart for the remaining 15 minutes of the half after the sending off, and County piled on the pressure. As the half finished I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed we weren’t winning, but I was confident that if we carried on where we left off in the second half, we would easily win. I was slightly wrong…..

To put it bluntly, the second half was a bag of shite. Both teams played terribly, although there were still three goals! There seemed to be a lack of urgency from County; we were passing it around the back four as if we were winning 5-0. When we weren’t passing it around the defence we were mindlessly hoofing it up to Mr nobody. I don’t usually criticise Alby and Daly, but they were about as much use as a chocolate fire guard in the second half. Neither seemed to chase down the ball, they won very few headers, and the passing was lacklustre and complacent. Still, there were a couple of goalscoring chances in the second half.

One of County’s very few chances came to Welsh. He beat about 2 men on the wing and ran into space in their area. Personally I would have shot from his position. However he opted to lay it back… to their defenders in the end. A great opportunity wasted. This was about all we saw of him in this half. Nobody seemed to get a decent pass to him, so he was rendered obsolete on the wing. A great shame since he was highly influential in the first half.

Our last chance before the first goal came to Daly. He did well to get the ball past the defender, but he forced himself a little wide. This doesn’t excuse his extremely poor shot. The keeper didn’t even need to parry it and comfortable saved it. The crowd started to get a bit restless at this point, the shouts of torment at Daly and Alby raised their ugly heads. The Diamond fans sensed this and started to chant a bit louder, they knew that they could possibly snatch all three points. I was pretty depressed at this point. I couldn’t see where a goal was going to come from and the players didn’t seem to know either. However, nobody counted on Ricky Lambertino!!

The goal came when I was slumped in my chair almost resigned to the fact that the game would end 0-0. The ball was bobbling around in their area without either team taking control. Lambert stepped up and had a crack at a shot. Their keeper seemed to have it covered, although he hadn’t bargained on our excellent playing surface. The ball sprung up off a piece of mud-sand and jumped mischievously over the stranded keeper. Poor sod. Anyway, the fickle fan that I am, I sprung to life!!! County were winning and going to stay up!!! This thought had only just entered my mind before it made a quick exit.

About a minute after we scored they got a pretty much textbook free kick in their half. The keeper mindlessly hoofed it forward. Balls like these should be defended easily. Not on this occasion. I think that a defensive mix up (some blame Daly [surprisingly:P] and some blame Williams, personally I was too gob smacked to notice) allowed their player to scruffily knock it past Anthony Williams who had already dived the wrong way. There is no worse feeling than watching the ball slowly trickle over the line, with all the defence watching it since there is nothing they can do. All of a sudden it was back to the way it was before the first goal. No urgency, boring and full of the despair a draw against a crap side (no offence Rushden) with 10 men brings.

Rushden were doing what they needed to do terrifically. They didn’t create many chances, if any, but they were still pressurising us enough to prevent us scoring. If anything, they played better than when they had 11 players! I think they were playing for, and happy for, a draw. We obviously weren’t. In hindsight I know that a draw would have left us still in the relegation zone because of other results. I would say that they were aiming most of their balls at that bassah Rodney Jack. Hardiker had clearly been assigned to the task of marking him, and it was a heated contest throughout. Hardiker was rough, but legal, and generally rock solid. Their main outlet really wasn’t getting a look in. I feel sorry for R+S really because they had the look of a team that had had their spine removed. The transfer deadline day affected them hard; we all know what it is like to have your best players sold from beneath you.

Well has you’ve probably worked out, Daly and Alby were playing like poo poo platter. Williams of the Chris variety was given all but three minutes to work his magic. And work it he almost did!!! He received the ball just outside their box, skipped round one, feinted the other and released a good shot that the keeper did well to turn round the post. Why Sammy didn’t play him earlier is beyond me.   

Just as the game looked to be heading to a crap draw, the referee struck in our favour. A dubious looking penalty was awarded for handball (I believe). We now had a great opportunity to take all three points, perhaps undeservedly so. There was only ever going to be one player who stepped up; Lambert. While I hopped from foot to foot, waiting for a heart attack, he seemed to be laughing and staring into space! This was all obviously a ploy as he stepped up and fired in an unstoppable low hard penalty. EP erupted.

The clock struck 90 minutes and I was ready for the 2 or 3 minutes of injury time. 5 MINUTES!!! “Oh Christ” I thought, “The ref’s trying to even it up!!!” Incidentally, the 5 was more like 7 as well!! Several chances in quick succession almost snatched Rushden a point. A melee in our box led to a corner, the corner led to another corner. The keeper came up, got his head on it but it went no where. We cleared and waited for the whistle, but the sod kept us waiting. The ball again was played into the area, again we cleared it. The relief when he finally blew and we won was unbelievable, I didn’t stop shaking for about another 30 minutes!

Anyway, we got the three points, but there were still some major flaws in our play today. We have GOT to stop giving players so much time and space in midfield. It allows them to look good and walk all over us. Also, the defence needs to communicate together. There was one incident where our keeper and a defender collided. FFS talk to each other!! We need to learn there are times to HOOF! and times to take your time. We simply need to kick Alby and Daly up the arse:P!

A word for their fans today. I thought they were excellent. Never stopped singing, but didn’t sing “you’re going down”, didn’t trash our stadium a la Wendy, and stopped to the bitter end of the match. Well done lads and ladies, you’re a credit to your club!:)

The ref today. From our point of view we can’t complain!! Gave us a penalty and didn’t award any match changing free kicks/penalties against us! He also saw the funny side of things. At one point (after the sending off) the Diamonds fans started to chant “Your not fit to referee!”. He cheekily turned around, grinned and gestured towards himself as if to say “Who, me?”!!! Made me chortle anyway!!!:P

Player ratings

Anthony Williams – 7 – Had nothing to do for the most part, and when he did he looked confident. Let in a goal so I can’t give him higher!:P

Hardiker – 7 – Didn’t look like he had been out of the team really!! Did what he was good at and was coooooool at the same time! His distribution let him down a bit occasionally.

Ash Williams – 7 – A good game, although he did make a few errors. His heading is good and his clearances are too. However, like I’ve said before, he cant pass for toffee!:P

Clare – 8 – Just beaten to MOM. He was excellent and has started to get back to how he was before Palmer ruined him. Very rarely beaten over the 90 minutes (and the 10 added on at the end:P) Made a few darting runs as well!

Adams – 7.5 – I really like this guy!! Solid, and no nonsense. At the minute a better option than Danny Jackman IMO!

Cartwright – 6.5 - The midfield was pretty poor overall today. Arkwright;) should have scored in the first half, and he didn’t create many chances. However, he helps a lot defensively and he never ducks out of a challenge.

Welsh – 8 first half, 5.5 second – I think the rating explains it all really. He was the hub of our team in the first half, and then he did sweet FA in the second, really!

Goodwin – 5.5 – Not a good game for him really. It seemed to me as if his mind was on other things. When he passed it was always sideways, back or to them, and he was the key hoofer in our team. He still made some good tackles though!

Lambert – 8 MOM- You little scouse beauty! He keeps scoring! What more can I say if he keeps doing that!!

Daly and Alby 7.5 first half 5.5 second – They were good in the first half creating chances and almost scoring them too. It was Albys good work off the ball that got their player sent off, and I think it was Daly who played in Cartwright (key word being ‘think’:P.) Second they weren’t really at the races. Didn’t create, didn’t defend and didn’t chase. End of.

Williams and Barlow – Barlow didn’t really do anything of note when he came on, Williams almost did:P

To conclude, it was a scrappy game that we were lucky to win. At the end of the day though, who cares; we got the three points and moved out of the relegation zone! That’s 14 points out of 18, three home wins in a row and another step towards safety. We CAN do it, and we WILL do it! Keep the faith!

:):):):):):):):):):):)

2699 words. Jee-sus!:P