Match report, Rushden 3 Skiddy 1

By rob
August 18 2002

The diamonds went to the top of the 3rd division after seeing off old rivals, Skiddy, at Nene park with a 3-1 victory. Goals form Darby, Gray (penalty) and an own goal from Sean Flynn sealed the victory with Danny Williams pulling one back for the visitors.

In a tense opening half both sides had chances on goal with skiddy using the counter attack well, but poor finishing prevented them from finding the net. The first real chance for Rushden came in the 13th minute when Lowe was brought down by Abdou Sall and Daniel Talbot squared the free kick to gray, only to see his effort on goal hit the post and travel away for a throw in.

2 minutes later the diamonds pressed forward again and won a corner that Talbot took, and curled towards the far post and errors in the skiddy defence meant that Williams helped the ball into his own net.

RUSHDEN 1 SKIDDY 0

The diamonds found they couldn’t settle, and skiddy were determined to get the ball forward, and with chances from Dean Bennet, and Sean Parish, but one going wide, and the latter being saved by Turley.

Skiddy seemed certain to equalise when Parish played a one-two with Bo Henricksen, but as parish was set to shoot, Paul Underwood produced a superb challenge to win the ball. Lowe had his chances on goal but was unable to find the net, as he was always under pressure from the skiddy defence.

HALF TIME: RUSHDEN 1 SKIDDY 0

2nd half started in the same way as the first, both sides looking to dominate the game. Skiddy have always had the upper hand over Rushden, but not this time, as near the hour mark Drew Broughton was giving his marching orders for allegedly elbowing Hunter in the face. It was his 2nd yellow card of the game.

Things got worse for skiddy as on 63 mins, Danny Williams tripped Darby in the penalty area, and Gray converted to make it 2-0 after much protest from the skiddy players. Their goalkeeper, Brock, was unable to save Grays shot he blasted down the middle.

Skiddy halved the deficit on 77 mins when Flynn tapped a free kick to Williams whose 25 yard shot found the back of the net.

RUSHDEN 2 SKIDDY 1

3 minutes later though Rushden made advantage of having an extra man on the field and from midfield the ball reached Lowe having shook off defenders and chipped the ball to Darby waiting in the box who only had to make a simple tap-in to make it 3-1.

It was a game that flowed with passion from both sides but was regularly spoilt by the referee as his decisions riled both sets of supporters, but it was Skiddy who had the worse of the luck, Dempster fell when covering the ball from Henrickson to give the striker the advantage but the ref saw it as a