Rushall boss Kitching the Olympic hero
Market Drayton Town 1
Rushall Olympic 2
RUSHALL Olympic bounced back from the previous week's disappointing home defeat by beating newly-promoted Market Drayton Town.
The Pics had previously led the UniBond League before slumping to a dismal defeat at the hands of Shepshed Dynamo but have now put themselves back in contention after a magnificent win over the Shropshire-based outfit.
However, they had to come from behind as Market Drayton Town dominated the opening minutes and took the lead straight away.
Town skipper Gary Anslow crossed from the right and found Paul Bowyer at the far post who headed home with relative ease.
To make matters worse, Rushall goalkeeper Chris Gemmell was forced to leave the pitch after sustaining an ankle injury in the build-up to the goal – and with no keeper on the bench, there was an unlikely replacement in manager Neil Kitching.
The Pics had a great chance to equalise on 18 minutes when Justin Nisbett raced through on goal but his touch let him down and keeper Steve Taylor smothered the ball.
In the ninth minute of first-half injury-time, Rushall were deservedly back on level terms.
A long clearance from stand-in keeper Kitching was flicked on by Ben Jevons and Nisbett lashed the ball into the bottom right corner.
Olympic started the brighter team in the second half and pressured the Town goal.
Mark Lowe had a great chance to score as he found himself six yards out. With his back to goal he swivelled and lashed a goal-bound shot, only to see the home stopper's finger-tips divert the ball for a corner.
But the Pics did find a winner when Jevons's intelligent pass sent Nisbett through and he shook off a defender and drilled the ball across the keeper to snatch all three points.
Rushall now lie fourth in the UniBond League with a point separating the top five.
Keeper Chris Gemmell was injured on Saturday.
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