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It’s taken 3 attempts to beat the weather but Daventry Town and Cambridge City finally managed to play out their Northern Premier League fixture on a bright evening in Northamptonshire.
Robbie Nightingale was missing from the dugout again tonight but we can confirm this is definitely due to illness and there is no truth in the rumours that Chelsea have
been sniffing around.
Tommy Rigby, Matty Miles and Dan Cotton were noticeable absentees with Long term injury concerns Scott Bridges and Ryan Ingrey filling in on the bench. Ben Nolan also taking his place amongst the subs having spent most of the season as an ever present in his un-favoured right-back position.
Daventry came into the game off the back of a 7-0 thumping from Sporting Khalsa while City had grabbed a creditable draw away to Loughborough Dynamo.
Daventry started brightly when long throw specialist Bleu McNeil fired a missile into the box from right in front of the City dugout. Yaw Ofosu rose highest to head the ball clear but it fell kindly to Ayomide Akinbobola whose neat turn and shot was easily saved by Joe Welch at his near post.
8 mins in and City stamped their mark on the game in emphatic style. An in-swinging corner from Mikey Davies was met in the box by the imperious Taylor Parr who outjumped everyone to glance a beautiful header into the far corner of the net. Just the start the Lilywhites needed.
Parr was ruffling feathers and after 15 mins clashed with Daventry Number 9 James Lovell in the centre of the pitch. It was nothing more than handbags and the ref rightly just gave a stern word to both men.
City were firmly in control with Swinton and Maynard bossing the midfield and providing Battersby and Robson with plenty of chances to raid down the flanks, Battersby hooked in a superb cross on 19 mins for former Daventry frontman Tom Lorraine, the big striker narrowly missing the target as he tried to bury his old club before half time.
Moments later Lorraine won the free kick that led to City extending their lead. Again it was Davies providing the ball which Jarid Robson did well to control and shoot, his deflected shot rebounded to that man Parr again, who made no mistake from close range.
22 minutes on the clock and the game was looking to be falling away for the home side. 2 further opportunities fell to Jarid Robson, the first a header from close range that went straight to Micky Ibbeson in the Daventry goal, the second a perfectly timed run that Jarid took down brilliantly and fired a powerful shot across goal only to be denied by an excellent diving save from Ibbeson.
After the break, Daventry looked to be trying to make a fight on it with some good spells of possession, but making no clear-cut chances.
Ben Nolan entered the game on 57 minutes replacing Jake Battersby who was struggling to shake off the dead leg he picked up in the first half. Nolan was immediately into the action, latching onto a through ball from Tom Waumsley. A deft chip over the keeper went narrowly wide and City had missed a golden opportunity to close out the game.
On 70 minutes Ryan Ingrey came off the bench to add some fresh leg up front but it was Tom Waumsley who grabbed the third goal. Good Work from Robson down the right whipping in a dangerous cross. The Daventry defence could only stab the ball clear and Waumsley brilliantly controlled it, turning on a sixpence and firing an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 18 yards. A well-deserved goal for the industrious number 9.
Not to be outdone, it was ingrey who had the final say with a late strike to complete a comprehensive victory. Again some dogged work from Robson to get the ball across and it was Ingrey who turned one defender and fired through the legs of another to make it 4-0 to City with virtually the last kick of the game.
An all-around solid performance from City, the back four were excellent and kept the Daventry attack to a few minimal chances which Joe Welch dealt with easily. The unofficial man of the man went to Taylor Parr looking to continue his good scoring record against Daventry. ‘Oops, he did it again’ not just once but ‘one more time’
It was also great to see Scott Bridges return to get ten minutes in his legs. Having been missing since getting injured early in the season, hopefully, he’ll get further game time as we close out the season.
We move on to Sutton Coldfield who will provide a much sterner test for the Lilywhites. With 11th place not out of sight we push on to finish the season strongly.