Late slips proving so costly for strugglers
Rothwell Town go into their BGB Southern League Division One Midlands game at AFC Sudbury tomorrow keen to break a bad habit.
Last week's defeat at Romulus was the sixth time this season the Bones have been beaten or denied a draw by a goal in the last 15 minutes – with four of those games seeing the killer strike come with less than 10 minutes to play.
As a result of those late goals, Rob Dunion's men have seen eight points slip from their grasp.
Had they held on, they would now be part of the mid-table pack and a massive 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
As it is, the Bones remain fourth-bottom, just five points clear of the
bottom two, and urgently needing to ensure they take something from tomorrow's game.
However, the formbook certainly suggests the Bones will have their work cut out.
Prior to their midweek defeat at play-off chasing Marlow, Sudbury had
put together a nine-game unbeaten run.
By contrast, Rothwell have only won two of their last 10 and haven't won away since beating Barton Rovers in November.
"We have to concentrate more and play for the full 90 minutes," said Dunion.
"I've said it so many times now I sound like an old foghorn. But we have to start closing games out because that's the only way we'll get ourselves away from the relegation places.
"It's fortunate that we are still in the position where we can look at pulling away with a couple of good results.
"But the players have to realise they're in a relegation battle.
"They are the ones who will get us out of it. The preparation is fine, it's now up to them to do the business on the pitch.
"These late goals have been killers for us and we have got to work hard to cut them out – not just the defence but the whole team."
Dunion is not helped, however, by losing two of his key men in defender Martin Flannigan (thigh) and striker Kevin Byrne (dislocated shoulder).
Paul Rice returns to add some defensive strength.
Rothwell from: Malong, Bridgeford, Underwood, Pownell, Hackett, Glass, Medine, Sneddon, Boyle-Chong, F Koriya, Goodall, Rogers, Rice, Locklin.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
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