REPORT: Quorn 1-1 Rugby Town
By Kurt Barnes
The Reds were presented with the NPL Midlands trophy following an underwhelming draw with relegation strugglers Rugby town. The result did little to take the gloss off a memorable day with most the 580 strong crowd remaining to celebrate a phenomenal season for Quorn. Ryan Beswick opened the scoring with Rugby finding a late equaliser and seeing a strong penalty shout waved away.
Quorn started the brighter of the two teams with Rodrigo Goncalves firing a ball into the box, but no one was able to get a touch. Zak Goodson found himself in a really dangerous position on the 8th minute but snatched as his effort and saw it sail wide. Goodson was in again three minutes later, with his shot blocked. Beswick also pumped a good ball into the box as the Reds dominated the early exchanges.
A minute later Quorn had a brilliant counter-attacking opportunity when Reece Fyfe raced through the middle, pinging the ball to Goodson, whose effort was well saved by Paul Hathaway, with the Rugby shot-stopper turning the ball behind for a corner. Quorn were deservingly 1-0 up in the 13th minute when Goodson whipped in a fantastic corner that Beswick met at the far post to flick a header into the far corner.
Rugby struggled throughout the first half, barely able to lay a glove on the champions, and Goncalves went close again as his shot went agonisingly wide in the 20th minute. Rugby’s first real chance of the game came on the 22nd minute when through on goal but Tom Allsopp made a fantastic save to keep it 1-0 to the Reds. Just before the half hour mark, Silvio Bello went on a mazy run and played a one two with Goodson only to see his shot hit the side netting. It could have been 2-0 to the Methodists in the 38th Minute when Fyfe forced another good save from Hathaway to keep his side in the game.
The second half’s first real chance of any note was a controversial decision, which went the way of the Reds when Allsopp was lucky not to concede a penalty, bringing an attacker down in the box. Whilst Quorn continued to have plenty of the play, they didn’t create more than a couple of half chances. Town scored a deserved equaliser with 10 minutes to play, as Ayo Lekuti’s cracking low shot got the visitors back on level terms.
Next up for the Reds is the shortest trip of the season, away to Loughborough Students on Saturday. With the title long since secured, Quorn are looking to reach a couple of targets. In their 100th season, the club are just one goal away from 100, and seven points away from the century mark as well.