Robbed.

Rovers made one of their longest away trips of the season, to the other side of Birmingham to face Sutton Coldfield Town, recently relegated from the Northern Premier League – using over ninety players in their previous season.

Kempston were missing several key players, but made the early running and nearly forced an opening goal in the fourth minute, as Ty Deacon put pressure on a defender which made him scuff his attempted clearance, but the keeper was smartly off his line to smother the danger. At the other end, Dominic Dell hit a volley over the top from a free kick that broke down. Both Deacon and Nathan Tshikuna had chances for Kempston before the visitors did open the scoring. Martin Conway played the ball out from the back to start a counter attack, Ty Deacon held the ball up perfectly and was afforded space enough to turn and lay a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Ben Acquaye. The pacy winger held his nerve and caressed the ball gently into the far corner of the net for one nil. Conway made a comfortable save from a headed chance for the hosts as they continued to offer threat from set pieces and long throws rather than open play. Deacon had the chance to double the lead when he got on the end of a Seb Simpson free kick, but was denied by a solid save from Gwilliams. Another counter attack from Rovers nearly brought the house down, Conway bowling out to Mason Spence. The full back surged forward into the area and cut a square ball for Ben Shepherd, who just couldn’t keep his effort down and blazed wildly over the bar.

After the break, Rovers continued to be the dominant force in the game and almost extended the lead in comical fashion as Harlem Sambu broke into the box after a neat flick round his man, his ball across sparked a split second of mad pinball defending that resulted in only a goal kick. Midway through the half, Acquaye played a neat one two with Deacon on the edge of the box, but the winger’s snap shot went wide of the near post. Sutton Coldfield realised they needed to up their game and started to press a little more as some of the high energy Rovers play began to edge away slightly. A couple of speculative chances from distance by Yankson and Clarke signalled intent, but it was with just four minutes to go the hosts thought their chance had come. A long throw into the box resulted in a short scramble before the ball fell to Monaghan. With most of the goal to aim at, the Sutton man couldn’t get his effort on target. In a last act of desperation, the ball was launched into the area by Curtis, a series of ricochets and fortunate bounces saw the ball drop to Mitch Clarke. The Sutton skipper didn’t get the cleanest of contact on the ball but did enough to divert the ball past Conway to deny Rovers the perfect away performance.

The result sees Kempston stay in tenth place in the table, still with some games in hand on those around them. After the game, Sutton Coldfield Town officials commented that Rovers were “the best footballing side” that they had faced this season and that they felt lucky to have come away from the game with a point. Rovers attention will turn to the FA Trophy at the weekend and the visit of Beaconsfield Town for a 3pm kick off.