Tuesday 28th February 2006
Southern League Division One West
Bromsgrove Rovers 0 Leighton Town 2
by Phil Baker

Another game, another missed opportunity and a result that surely consigns any hope Rovers had of promotion into the dustbin.

Yet another match starting with a changed line up which saw the popular Riad Erraji return to Rovers from Rushall Olympic ironically as they have just passed Rovers in the league and a debut for Irishman Daire Doyle brought in from Moor Green.

Matt Johnson made way for Erraji at right back, Doyle occupied the vacancy in mid-field and John Snape displaced Wayne Dyer to the bench.

The home team started brightly enough submitting the Buckinghamshire team to a wave of attacks that saw Neil Davis miss a couple of good chances along with one each for Paul Moore and Daire Doyle.

As the half went one, Leighton settled down and looked dangerous going forward but never really threatened the home net. Indeed at the end of the half the best chance went again to Rovers when Kevin Banner put one wide of the right hand post.

The second half continued pretty much as the first ended with Rovers pushing forward, uphill this time and the visitors relying more on breaks though apart from one early effort by John Snape much of the action took place in the middle of the pitch.

The breakthrough for Leighton came on 69 minutes when Chennells found himself unmarked on the edge of Rovers penalty area and with just Evans to beat to carefully lined up his shot and hit it hard and low giving the Rovers 'keeper no chance.

Buoyed by an unexpected but far from undeserved lead the visitors attempted to double their advantage just two minutes later when Lee Evans finger-tipped a well-taken free-kick over his bar.

Manager Rod Brown decided that a couple of pairs of fresh legs were needed in an attempt to rescue the situation and brought on Dyer and Johnson for Erraji and Snape. Unfortunately they had not even warmed up when Leighton got their second after a dreadful square pass in mid-field from the usually reliable Chris McHale was intercepted by Chennells who sprinted 30 yards before unleashing an powerful shot past the hapless Evans.

So where has it all gone wrong? Firstly there is nothing wrong with the players, man for man on paper they ought to be superior to any club in the division. However, playing as a finely-tuned machine they are not. Too many changes of personnel, never playing the same team in successive matches, players playing out of position, wasted set pieces, not playing the ball quick enough or first time and a general lack of motivation. Not my words but just a few of the comments I have heard around the ground in recent weeks. Get a few of these right and we would be unstoppable however for this season it is now almost certainly too late.

Rovers (3-5-2): Lee Evans, Riad Erraji (Matt Johnson 74 mins), Joe Williams, Chris McHale, Exodus Geohaghan, John Snape (Wayne Dyer 74 mins), Mark Benbow, Daire Doyle, Neil Davis, Paul Moore, Kevin Banner.

Opposition details not available.
Attendance: 201

Baker's MoM for Rovers: Daire Doyle