Ruddington Village — Sat 3 Feb 2007

Match report

Half time: 2 – 2

It had been three weeks since the Durham draw when Samba next took the field, as the postponement of the Winning Post match, followed by a free weekend had left Samba with a void in their season. Eager to get back to winning ways against Ruddington, there was a recall for Hill to the side who hadn’t been seen since his sending off against Selston almost two months previous and Matthew Shenton took his place at right back, for his first appearance of the season following his broken arm. Lucas was injured and Samba had a trio of players unavailable in Hawkins, Sharp and Paskin. The game started and Samba settled reasonably well, with the ball mainly contained in midfield and both sides content to play their way into the match. The battle for midfield supremacy was interrupted however by a long hopeful ball from the Ruddington defence which saw the attacker chase the ball as it sailed over C.Taylor’s and Shenton’s head. Ballard came rushing from his goal and between them they averted immediate danger. However as Ballard got back on his line, the ball was squared to another Ruddington striker and he fired the ball home to give Ruddington an early lead. Things went from bad to worse about 10 minutes later when a bouncing ball was only half-cleared and the Ruddington forward didn’t think twice before executing a perfect lob over Ballard for 2-0. Samba were rocking and tempers were beginning to be lost as the players could see their place at the top of the table being taken away from them. To their credit Samba started to play with Hill battling well and Gibbons showing glimpses of his ability on the ball. Samba were given a lifeline when a deep cross field ball from Doughty was brilliantly reached by Hill, who placed his header towards the far corner of the net. Unluckily for Hill, whose header deserved a goal, the ball hit the inside of the post and rolled along the line, but Broughton was on hand to force it over and reduce Samba’s arrears. The momentum was clearly now with Samba and they were looking especially dangerous from set pieces. Ruddington couldn’t cope with Samba’s power in the air, particularly Broughton’s and this was evident as he climbed highest to head home an equaliser. As the game neared half time Samba were in command and had fought back extremely well from a two deficit . As the half time whistle blew Samba believed strongly that they would go on and win the game.

Samba began the second half well and territorially were the better side. It wasn’t long before they took the lead and the inevitable happened, in that Samba scored from another set piece. Samba had looked menacing from set pieces all afternoon, whilst Ruddington had looked extremely nervous every time a corner was awarded. What wasn’t inevitable was that Wilford’s corner flew straight in, as neither an attacker nor any defender got a touch before the ball crossed the line. Samba were clear favourites to win the match from this position and could have had a fourth when the ball was crossed along the goal line and as Gibbons went to apply the finishing touch, the ball bobbled and got stuck between his legs before it was eventually cleared to safety. For some reason though a sloppiness came into Samba’s play as they squandered possession and allowed Ruddington back into the game. Doughty was booked for a late challenge on Ruddington’s most influential player and although Samba were not unduly troubled, there was a definite edginess to their play, as they knew that they had struggled to hold on to leads over the past few weeks. This worry was not without reason, as Ruddington salvaged an equaliser when a cross from the Ruddington right was superbly headed into the far corner to leave Ballard little chance. Samba made a couple of substitutions as Francis and Shenton were replaced by Bradshaw and Jackson. The two remaining Samba chances both fell to Hill and both were from free kicks, although the distance from goal was vastly different between the two attempts. Firstly Hill miscued from an indirect free kick in the Ruddington box, after Broughton had received a kick in the mouth for his troubles. The second was speculative at best from 30+ yds and the ball sailed over the Ruddington cross bar. It was in fact Ruddingotn themselves who came closest to a winner, when a vicious shot from 20 yds flew narrowly wide and Samba breathed a sigh of relief. The game ended 3-3 and it took Samba to 4 without a win in the league, a club record, though incredibly Samba have led in all 4 of these games. Equally incredible as other results were reported was the fact that Samba were still top, due to failures by others but the top 7 in the league are now only separated by 6 points as the race for promotion really hots up.