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Roberts - 7 Confident performance overall apart from that moment of hesitancy in the first half which resulted in him handling a back pass. He needs to sort out his understanding with his defenders otherwise moments such as this will cost us in tight games.

Corcoran - 8 Did very well for a comparatively small defender against a very physical opposition

Downer - 9.5 MOTM Very very impressive. Won just about everything and showed Stevenage that they weren't the only team who could put in crunching tackles .

Stuart - 8 Led the back line well despite lack of height

Robinson - 8 Consistently strong as per the other defenders. Unlucky to be booked when he appeared to win the ball

Terry - 9 As against Eastbourne, he played the holding position very well. Always seemed to be in the right place for picking up the loose ball

Byrne - 7 Can't question his effort but he had to work very hard against much bigger opponents who often muscled him off the ball

Porter - 7 Felt he was overshadowed somewhat by Terry'e performance

Farrell - 6 Didn't make much of an impact for me - I expect Tomlin to replace him on Tuesday

O'Connor - 8 Refused to be intimidated - did well to win a number of headers against much taller opponents

Louis - 7 Bit of a mixed bag. Led the line well in the first half although his hold up play was a little inconsistent. Had one good run and shot but put too many passes astray in the second half - I assume he was tiring.

Wolleaston - only contribution was the goal but who cares ? 8-)

Akurang/Smith - not on long enough to rate

JE - the Wolleaston substitution was a work of genius .

Overall a great performance against a team of thugs and poor losers (Dino). I imagine that our boys are all covered with bruises. Roll on Oxford .

Dale-9-Fantastic save, his handling and cross catching rescued us a few times too
Corcoran-7-Won a lot in the air but thought he struggled when they had the ball on the floor.
Robbo-7-Did well against some big boys but ultimately he couldn't play his best game going forward
Downer-9-Class.Won everything, I also think he is a very clever defender
Stuart-8-Did what he did best. PAssionate, no nonsense defending.
Terry-7-Good at the back, but he wasted a couple of balls forward
Porter-7-Got stuck in without really being noticeable
Byrne-8-Gets about, creative, a good allround performance
Farrell-6-Disappointed me. Some sloppy play & his set pieces weren't as good.
Louis-7-Held ball up well, I think the formation suits him
O'Connor-7-Worked hard but didn't make great impact due to size of opponents

Apart form the goal I can't remember Wolly doing anything but I'll let him off. I was quite impressed with Cliff, I had forgotten what he was about and thought JE had made a mistake bringing him on. Thought he was handy though and will still paly a big part this season. Great play by Smith at the end to set up Byrne, glad he's back in the team.

Overall I think we got a bit lucky. For periods Stevenage dominated without creating any clear cut chances, but our counters were poor. We went for it a bit at the end though and got a cracking winning goal. I think it would have been harsh for us to lose, but nor did they deserve to lose

10/10 for the lot of them, a real team effort, thats what we've got - a real team !! There is a togetherness about this bunch of players I've not seen for ages, that was evident in the bar afterwards. Downer gets 11/10 for me, he was immense today and my MON before it was announced !!

The whole team gets a 9.5 from me as they all played their part but Downer was just superb from ko to final whistle. His tackling was perfectly timed and his general all round performance was superb. Also great to see Woolly get a goal and what a goal it was!! We know he can do that because we saw it at the back end of last season but today that was just SPECIAL!!!!! Well done the boys - you ALL did us proud today. Bring on Oxford and with Tommo back who's to say where we might end up finishing this season.

Mid table mediocraty (sp?). Lets leave that to the scummers up the road!!!

Roberts - 9.5. Would be 10 but that free-kick he caused in the first half made me very nervous, I was sure they were going to score.

Defence - 10. Dealt with everything, special mention to Downer obviously.

Midfield - 9. The way we continuously pressed them on the ball was excellent, I was a bit weary of Wolleaston coming on for Porter because I wasn't sure whether he'd carry on in Porter's vain. He showed me with the goal.

Attack - 8. O'Connor worked and worked, J-Lo maybe should've scored at the end of the first half, Farrell was a bit anonymous at times. Can't believe Akurang missed at the end to make it 2-0. Smith gets credit for running as usual and for the pin-point cross to Akurang. I think he deserves a start soon, maybe keeping Farrell on the bench?

JEMS - Awesome as usual and it was great to see everyone celebrating at the end.

Happy days are here again. :mrgreen:

Agree the whole team get a 9.5 but Downer was outstanding so 10+
Not long been indoors, stopped off at relatives on route back...then a long 3 and half hour journey for me to home. But wanted to make this game and boy i was not disappointed ! If Downer hadnt got man of the match today, there was no justice. He didnt put a step wrong and completely covered the back.
And what a goal !!!! The place erupted....ha ha ha it was amazing and im glad i made the game....as i live so far, its not often i can do that. Now, do i make it for the Oxford game, think i better try, cos that is going to be another cliff hanger :o
Well done Rushden and well done JEMS !!!

I am sure that it was Byrne who missed the header at the end and not Akurang!

Yeah it was byrne , some how he managed to head it on the line and went over crossbar !?

Apparently he lost the ball in the floodlights so mistimed the header, but am also sure their keeper did get a touch to it as well so it should have been a corner.

Roberts - 8 - Stunning save near the end.

Robinson - 7 - Kept Stevenage quiet down that side.

Downer - 10 - I rarely give 10's, but he deserves one.

Stuart - 10 - Won everything in the air against Sills, who is about 5 inches taller.

Corcoran - 8 - Looked a bit shaky first half but first class second.

Byrne - 8 - Typical terrier like performance.

Porter - 6 - Not really involved.

Terry - 8 - Calm in possesion.

Farrell - 6 - Looked tired.

Louis - 7 - Held the ball up particulalry well second half after a bad first.

O'Connor - 8 - Ran himself into the ground.

..................

JE - 10 - Spot on.