Sargeant the hero as ten-man Rushall Olympic edge out lacklustre Town
FOOTBALL
Evo-Stik Southern Premier Central
Stratford Town 0-1 Rushall Olympic
Report by Craig Gibbons
A STAND-OUT performance from goalkeeper Matt Sargeant helped ten-man Rushall Olympic to a 1-0 victory over a below-par Stratford Town.
Simeon Maye's 22nd-minute strike proved to the difference in front of the 295-strong crowd at the Arden Garages Stadium.
However, it was Sargeant who stole the show with a number of fine saves to keep his side's lead intact, especially after they went down to ten men in the 55th minute when Joseph Hull was given his marching orders for a two-footed challenge on Mo Sebbeh-Njie.
Town's head of football Thomas Baillie was forced into making an early change before kick-off, with Kynan Isaac coming in for Jordan Williams who picked up a knock in the warm-up.
There was also one further change to the team which beat Bedworth United 2-0 last Saturday as Wilson Carvalho came in for Will Grocott who dropped to the bench.
As is often with Town, their first-half showing was far from convincing, but they should have taken the lead in the 12th minute when Isaac's deep free-kick was glanced on by Dan Creaney, with the ball landing at the feet of Sebbeh-Njie who could only lash wide from 12 yards out.
That miss proved costly as the visitors broke the deadlock 12 minutes later when the lively Dan Waldron surged down the left before delivering a low cross to the far post where Maye was on hand to tap home from a yard out.
A lacklustre Town battled through the half, but would fail to test Sargeant in the Rushall goal as the visitors took a deserved lead at the interval.
Town came out for the second half a completely different team and it needed a fabulous save from Sargeant in the 50th minute to prevent James Fry's header from finding the bottom corner.
Five minutes later Rushall's job of holding on to their lead was made more difficult when Hull was given a straight red card for a reckless two-footed challenge on Sebbeh-Njie on the far side.
With the man advantage, Town should have hauled themselves back on level terms just past the hour mark, but Sargeant pulled off another stunning save to block Nabil Shariff's volley from close range.
Sargeant continued to be the thorn in Town's side as he put out a strong hand to stop Shariff's powerful effort from finding the bottom corner with 20 minutes to go.
Town huffed and puffed to force the equaliser and despite several late corners deep into stoppage time, they could not find a way past a stubborn Rushall defence and an inspired Sargeant between the sticks.
TOWN: Ross Etheridge, Chris Cox, Cody Fisher, James Fry, Lewis Wilson, Kynan Isaac, Nabil Shariff (Mike Taylor 73), Albi Skendi, Dan Creaney, Mo Sebbeh-Njie (Tom Fishwick 66), Wilson Carvalho. Subs: Rajan Shergill, William Grocott.
RUSHALL: Matt Sargeant, Tyler Lyttle, AJ Adelekan, Sam Whittall, Joseph Hull, Orrin Pendley, Simeon Maye, Lee Smith, Daniel Waldron (Ben Lund 90), Ashley Sammons (90+2 Brian Smikle), Daniel O'Callaghan. Subs: Massiah McDonald, Aram Soleman, David Bridgwater.
