OGUNBY TREBLE SENDS RAMS THROUGH
The Rams eased into the second round of the Macron League Cup thanks to a wonderful Henri Ogunby hat-trick at home to lower division opposition Nelson.
Manager Steve Wilks made just the three changes to his side heading into this one with Wood, Rigby and Redmayne coming in to replace Moss, Whyte and Chingwaro.
Rammy started the game fast with Luke Sephton going extremely close to breaking the deadlock on four minutes as he saw goalkeeper Jordan Gidley make a stupendous save to deny him.
Ramsbottom continued to probe and they looked to be away through Ogunby on 16 minutes but a shove in the back of the pacey winger halted the attack. However, the referee was not convinced by the challenge and he waved play on much to the dismay of Matt Dudley who protested the cause. The man with the whistle wasn’t impressed with Dudley’s demonstration and handed the forward a 10 minute sin bin for his troubles.
Despite going down to 10 men the hosts didn’t seem fazed and Ogunby looked to be away once more following a lovely over the top ball that he chased. This time the forward was brought down once more and the referee had a huge call to make. Without hesitation the official brandished the Nelson player with a red card, but the linesman disagreed with the decision stating that Ogunby was offside. The decision was overturned after a lengthy chat between the two and the home side felt extremely hard done by.
The Rams continued to pile on the pressure and on 33 minutes Henri Ogunby managed to open the scoring with a lovely finish into the bottom right hand corner following a mazy run into the box. At this point, the boys in blue smelt blood and just three minutes later Ogunby managed to grab his and his side’s second of the game with an absolute wonder strike into the top left hand corner of goal. The ex-Manchester City man picked up the ball on the edge of the box and after taking a touch he wrapped his right foot round the ball sending it into near post giving the goalkeeper absolutely no chance.
Heading into the half time break the Rams had a much deserved two goal lead.
As the second 45 minutes began you could sense that Rammy wanted to put this game to bed sooner rather than later. Then on 50 minutes up stepped Ogunby once more to secure his hat-trick and give his side a three goal cushion. Much like his first goal, the man of the moment weaved his way into the penalty area and slotted into the bottom corner as cool as you like, a superb finish and an even better performance from Ramsbottom’s number seven.
The match was well and truly wrapped up but that didn’t deter the hosts from trying to add more goals to the scoreline as striker Matt Dudley went agonisingly close on 58 minutes but the keeper pulled off a great save to keep his effort out.
The comfortable scoreline allowed the gaffer chance to make a number of substitutions including bringing on young defender Alex Yates who has progressed all the way through the youth setup at Rammy and has now managed to get some first team minutes for the senior side.
Yates was on the pitch for around 20 minutes and he looked extremely comfortable as he slotted into the back line with manager Steve Wilks saying, “He was brilliant, he’s only a 17 year old kid, despite not looking 17 by the size of him. He’s got a bright future at this football club and we’ll keep dipping him into the squad and tonight he didn’t put a foot wrong”.
Overall it was an extremely impressive performance from the Rams and very professional win with plenty of positives. Ramsbottom will be hoping to continue their rich vein of form as they travel to Pilkington this weekend for their FA Vase first round clash.
RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Wood, Hayhurst, Walder (Roscoe 45mins), Walker (Whyte 90+3mins), Radcliffe (Yates 75mins), Johnson, Ogunby, Sephton, Dudley, Rigby, Redmayne (Lockett 64mins). Sub not used: McKerney
Att: 174
