A strange atmosphere before the game today – from Ramsbottom’s perspective, a couple of unwanted defeats in the past week has seen some questions raised as to whether we could keep up the standards of our early league form, as we slid from 3rd to 8th in the table.
From Glossop’s point of view, they simply needed more points on the board to pull away from the lower reaches they have been edging towards. Tensions at their end could certainly be felt prior to kick off as two members of the North End coaching staff had a quite animated “brothers tiff”, drawing a few chuckles amongst early arrivees around the ground.
Rammy had the better of the early exchanges. Some positive work from Kayle Power, filling in on the right wing, saw him fizz one narrowly wide of the opposite post. And when Glossop’s on-loan Burnley keeper Harry Allen flapped at a cross, it looked easier for Domaine Rouse to score than not from close to the penalty spot, with Allen in no man’s land. Unfortunately a well positioned Glossop defender on the line was more than happy to rebound it clear – and calls for handball from the Rammy faithful were deemed unfounded, and duly ignored.
James Murphy and Jamie Rainford won us a few free kicks from around the edge of the penalty area, but none of the resulting set pieces would cause the visitors undue problems. Rainford himself a little unlucky though not to get on the end of a couple of long balls, with the onrushing keeper Allen becoming a common site throughout the match, as he was first to the ball time and time again. Certainly not afraid to take a risk that one!
One of the real positives to take away from this performance was that of young right back Owen Collinge, who has proved he can reach the standards needed for this level of football. A good piece of work from him on the right hand side ended in Jamie Rother connecting acrobatically to the resulting cross, but his effort agonisingly rebounded off the post. From certain points round the ground, it looked like the goalkeeper may have got just enough of a claw on it, but not 100% certain.
Glossop meanwhile, didn’t really create anything to write home about. Their lone centre forward looked as strong but as slow as an ox (and completely isolated), and they struggled to work the ball around the Rammy back line, which was well marshalled by a typically vocal and commanding captain Tom Kennedy.
Two half time changes from the Derbyshire side however saw the game do a full 360, and suddenly it was they who looked the more dangerous prospect. Both teams however, continued to spurn any opportunities that followed. An array of desperate shooting and some last ditch defending kept the scoreline at 0-0 until the final whistle sounded – this was despite James Murphy also having a late tap in ruled out for offside.
If judging off the second period only, the Rams were sure to have felt the more relieved of the two dugouts by the end – but over the 90 minutes the draw was probably about fair. How there were no goals however, is probably anyone’s guess!
