Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground
Saturday, 29th July 2023, 3.00pm
Town Beaten In Friendly
Rovers played their penultimate pre-season in front of another good crowd against Uttoxeter Town at the Moat Ground. After a shaky five-minute spell in the first half, they settled to end the game with a win.
There were several players missing through various reasons, Ste Hart, Danny Munday, Tyler Donaldson, Dexter Dudley-Toole, Bradley Maslen-Jones, and Rhys Mason. Dylan Hunniford was on the bench but not used as a precaution owing to the injury he received on Tuesday. There were two new players in Jayden Forrester and Leavi Oshungbure.
Rovers started well enough but a defensive mishap on 5minutes saw Matt Redshaw rob the ball in the are before slotting it coolly past Lewis Fenney.
A couple of minutes later Rovers went close to levelling when James Spruce curled a shot which was heading for the far corner before visiting keeper, Charlie Wood, got down well to push the effort away.
On 21 minutes Town almost doubled their advantage. A cross from the right picked out the impressive Redshaw who hammered a volley from close in but somehow Fenney pulled off a superb save to prevent a certain goal.
Four minutes on another good chance for the visitors when Redman picked out teammate Rueben Kelley but again Fenney was on top form to deny the no 8 his goal at the neat post.
Kane Lee got Rovers level just before the break with a good goal and it was Lee again who gave them the lead two minutes into second half. A cross from the left found Lee at the far post and he made no mistake heading home. A spectacular bicycle kick in the area almost drew Town level but Fenney held onto the attempt.
The action flew to the other end where Jamie Sleigh forced a very good save from close in from Wood to deny a third goal. The follow up was smashed wide of the target.
Rovers had two more shots that flew across the face of the goal and wide of the mark but on 81 minutes they were successful. A cross from the right was smashed home at the far post by Rovers substitute Haydn Brown.
The home side ended the game creating three more good chances as Town’s energy levels began to drop. Substitute Tyler Smith flashed a shot agonisingly the wrong side of the far post. Another substitute James Tague fired in a low shot and fellow substitute Jordan Edwards saw his flicked header fly wide of the far post.
