If Rothwell Town do
preserve their Division One Midlands status in
the BGB Southern League this season, they will
surely look back on their two games with Nuneaton
Town as the ones that made the difference.
The Bones have struggled against most opponents
this year yet have
somehow managed to take four points from a team
that has been top-three all season.
Despite the huge number of places between the
two sides in the league, there was little to choose
between these two in the first half.
But it still caught everyone by surprise when
Gareth Dean needlessly fouled Kevin Byrne in the
box on 29 minutes and Robbie Maddox put Rothwell
ahead from the spot.
Two minutes into the second half, the Bones were
daring to dream as Michael Boyle-Chong doubled
their lead.
But that was the cue for five minutes of madness
that saw Nuneaton first pull one back through
David Blenkinsopp's crisp 48th-minute volley and
then equalise three minutes later when Robert
Oddy's free-kick from the right sailed over everyone
and into the net.
Bones fans might have been fearing a complete
collapse at this point but they regained their
composure and began to compete with their visitors
again.
They lived on the edge at times, none more so
than on 80 minutes when Stuart Dorrill saved from
Levi Ramsay and Bobby White brilliantly blocked
Blenkinsopp's follow-up.
But again, Rothwell were never at any stage outclassed
and both sides might even have won it at the death.
But the point will suffice for the Bones.
It might be just be crucial come the day of reckoning
this weekend.
Rothwell: Dorrill, Hackett, Glass, Maude,
Flannigan, White, Locklin (sub F Koriya, 68 mins),
Boyle-Chong, Byrne, Maddox, Marlow (sub Goodall,
80 mins). Subs not used: McIlwain, Underwood,
Linton.
Nuneaton: Acton, Oddy, Nisevic, Pitham, Hadland,
Dean, Marsden, Armson, Blenkinsopp, Foster, Ramsay.
Subs not used: Murphy, Williams.
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