Rampant Rouslers rout Rovers

Kempston Rovers suffered only their second defeat in eleven matches at Bromsgrove Sporting as the hosts continue to put the pressure on the league leaders Peterborough Sports. Rovers were without leading scorer Crawley after a recurrence of his ankle injury last weekend, leading to a start for Izale McLeod, the only change to the starting line up in the last month.

The game was barely two minutes old when James Martin was called into action to block an effort from Kieren Westwood after the left winger had been set up by Charlie Dowd. Rovers created a chance of their own at the other end, after neat play between Nathan Tshikuna and Cameron Hyde set up McLeod, but the veteran front man’s shot was charged down before it could trouble Brown in the home goal. With eight minutes on the clock, the hosts opened the scoring. A right wing corner was met on the full by the flying figure of Tom Taylor, whose free header thumped into the roof of the net. The lead could’ve been doubled on the quarter hour, as a long kick from Brown was flicked on to Peters, who attempted to slip between two Rovers defenders, however a poor touch allowed Alfie Powell to recover and make the last ditch challenge. Shane Bush tested Brown in the home goal with a powerful header from a Dan Akubuine cross, but found the stopper more than equal to the effort. Jason Cowley, the league’s top scorer had a great chance to score but curled wide from the edge of the box on twenty five minutes. Westwood had another chance for the hosts before they did double the lead, with almost a carbon copy of their opener. A corner from the right found Taylor who was against unchecked and headed home for two nil. In first half stoppage time, Cowley surged forward and was deemed to have been clipped by the on rushing James Martin. Having dusted himself down, Cowley scored the resultant spot kick, sending the ball straight down the middle for a three nil lead at the break. However, after the game several home fans near to the incident indicated that they thought there may have been no contact on Cowley at all.

Kempston attempted to rally themselves in the second half and some good build up play saw Bush feeding McLeod who in turn layed the ball into the path of Scott Joseph, but the winger’s finish was wild. Barely a minute later and Bromsgrove had put the game out of sight. A long ball down the line saw Westwood touch it inside to Cowley, who took a touch to get inside his man and shot low across goal and into the far corner. The hosts, sensing blood, continued to attack and caused the Rovers back line all kinds of head-aches as the game went on. Dowd, Cowley and Peters all guilty of wayward finishing. Midway through the half, a deep cross found sub John Pykett steaming in at the far post, but he couldn’t keep his ferocious volley down and found only the roof of the terrace behind the goal. James Martin produced a fine save to deny Cowley a hat-trick with a header from a corner. With fifteen minutes remaining came the best moment of the match by far; John Pykett collected the ball twenty five yards out from goal and unleashed a rocket shot in to the top corner of the net, raising the entire crowd to their feet. Cowley had a further chance to bag his treble after seizing on a back pass, but was denied by Martin. Alfie Powell stabbed over Kempston’s last effort after a corner from Razvan Mocanu was nodded down by Jordan Wright. In the dying moments, Pykett nearly repeated his wonder strike, but his volley flashed just wide of the post after a poorly cleared corner, leaving the score at five nil at the final whistle.

The result keeps Bromsgrove in the hunt at the top of the table and sees Kempston remain in sixteenth place, but crucially now level on goal difference as well as points with Dunstable Town, who sit in fifteenth on goals scored.

Kempston’s next action is on Tuesday night when they travel to Dunstable Town ahead of Saturday’s meeting with another of the league’s leading sides Corby Town.