Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground
Tuesday, 23rd July 2024, 7.45pm
Town Sneak A Win At The Moat
The final pre-season friendly was played in front of a decent crowd on a pleasant evening at the Moat but it ended disappointingly in a narrow defeat as visitors Nuneaton Town capitalised on a slip in defence.
Rovers had dominated large periods of the game and could or rather should have been well over the horizon creating several guilt edged chances especially in the first half.
The first chance came after just 6 minutes with Danny Munday hitting a shot wide of the far post. On the half hour mark it was the turn of Nathan Banton to go close after collecting a fine pass from Ben Gough. Kane Lee was next. A good pass from Finn Barker to Lee saw him turn his marker in the area but fired his low shot straight at the Town keeper.
Munday suffered the first of some very poor tackles on the edge of the Town area which the referee thought didn’t deserve a free kick which the Gresley man didn’t agree with.
Minutes later yet another chance fell for Rovers. Lee put a superb low ball across the area which eluded Munday and fell to Barker who in turn fired straight at the keeper. Barker went close again when he and Munday combined well with final shot just wide of the post.
The second half saw, as expected, both sides making several changes and Town was the first to try their luck with a low shot which Charlie Wood smothered easily. Munday was provider again feeding the ball through Town’s backline to the charging Lee but with only the keeper to beat fired into the keeper’s midriff.
On 56 minutes Munday was the subject of yet another poor tackle but this time he had to hobble off the pitch with the help of the physios with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury.
Town could have taken the lead four minutes later when a woefully short back pass to Wood was jumped on by Stuart Hendrie who, seeing Wood well off his line, tried to lob the keeper but his effort was easily caught by Wood.
Rovers went close themselves a couple of minutes later a ball into the area saw Banton flick a header onto the far post which left the keeper stranded but amazingly the ball spun off the woodwork and into the keeper’s arms.
Town took the lead on 68 minutes when a quick break saw Justin Marsden beat his marker before slotting the ball past Wood somewhat against the run of play. They went close to doubling their advantage when a speculative cross cum shot from the right hit the far post.
The visitors had a shot on the turn saved and Rovers hit a low shot from distance which gave the Town keeper problems at the near post as he managed to scramble the ball away for a corner. Time ran out for Rovers as Town hung on to their lead.
It had been a good workout for both sides, but the real test comes on Saturday when Rovers entertain Boston Town in the first league game of the season.
