COLNE HOO-DOO LAID TO REST
Skipper Andrew Teague celebrates the Rams opening goal.
The Rams welcomed neighbours Colne to a showery afternoon at the Riverside with the game played out in a mix of bright sunshine and teeming rain.
Rams sat proudly on top of the table, whilst Colne languished at the bottom. That situation however was the case when Ramsbottom returned from the spartan steel magnificence of Holt House a few weeks ago following yet another defeat against their jinx team.
Absorbing hard statistical evidence from the club’s own pre-match analysis was enough to send a judder down the spine of the most optimistic of Rams fans.
The game itself, started in a cagey fashion. The Rams struggled to find their usual passing game, but did create chances, and were to find fluency in isolated bursts.
As the half wore on without the breakthrough, and this being Colne, a feeling grew that Rams might be made to pay later in the in the game.
Colne, playing in yellow, grew into the game and created a series of clearcut chances through smart footwork, to access the penalty area and posed a real danger throughout the game. A mazy forward run and a series of attacks from the visitors would have been punished by teams higher on confidence.
So nil, nil at half time, and an absorbing rather than exciting encounter.
As the second half got underway, Colne continue to press and quickly set up another chance as the visitors passed their way forwards and Brad Rose, in the home goal, was grateful to collect a scuffed effort.
Such let-offs can be tuning points in matches encouraging a feeling that the hoodoo was lifting.
This season manager Steve Wilkes has brought in experience to bolster a youthful back line comprising Rose, Harvey Hayhurst and Oscar Radcliffe with captain, Andy Teague, exemplifying this. Teague appeared everywhere, reading the game, having time on the ball and picking up the pieces, and prompting the Rams forwards wherever possible.
In the fifty-fourth minute came the breakthrough and Teague the beneficiary of an excellent corner. Maine Walder’s body position indicated an in-swinging delivery from the left and his arms aloft often signaled a deeper target. That’s exactly what he delivered, and shrugging of his marker and rising highest to head past Wilson was Teague. His first goal for the club and celebrated with gusto with the crowd massed behind.
As with the Prestwich game a week earlier the deadlock had been broken via a set piece corner. The dead ball option is proving a useful addition to the Rams arsenal, especially with their passing game thwarted by hard pressing opponents.
Colne still posed a threat and very nearly had their equaliser almost immediately when a glorious chance around the penalty spot from Yusuff was skied over the railway end crossbar – when it should have been buried in the Rams goal.
And then there was more to come from the exemplary Rams captain. Rose was unable to gather a corner, and the ball ran loose before a shot was smashed past him and into the centre of the goal. There, anticipating, was Teague on the goal line and able to use his chest to clear the danger.
Colne continued to press, but even when the ball wasn’t running particularly well for them, so did the Rams, with an excellent work rate throughout the team.
It was evident none more so than in the form of frontman Tom Hoyle. Hoyle constantly harried defenders and must be their worst nightmare.
On 85 minutes he sprinted in to close down a Colne defender and got his foot to an attempted clearance. The ball deflected across the box towards substitute Raj Uppal, who couldn’t believe his luck and calmly stroked the ball home to calm any residual nerves -and surely bring victory. It was Uppal’s first for the Rams and celebrated once more with the supporters.
The Rams managed out the game well in the closing minutes and could have added a third in injury time. This was a hard-won victory and brings more points at a crucial stage of the season, with nine gained in the last eight days alone.
RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Rose, Radcliffe, Hayhurst (Ogunby 88mins), Teague, S.Sephton, Walder, Lynch, Tinker (Whyte 65mins), Camara (Uppal 60mins), Wilson (M Jackson 80mins), Hoyle.
Att: 231
