Luffs secure another win over old rivals
IT was a thousand days since The Luffs had registered a win at The Drome and they now have registered two in the last two weeks and the Loughborough side are looking good.
This second win was in the cup against old rivals Anstey Town and as usual it was a good battle and was only decided late in the game.
Loughborough showed their intent from the kick off with Brian Bubi and the Anstey keeper Jimmy Hughes competing for the loose ball but the bounce was kind to the visiting keeper. Ansteys’ first effort on goal was a free kick that Jack O’Brien blasted over the bar and they thought they had scored but the Loughborough keeper Ben Dibden was at full stretch to tip the ball onto the bar.
Loughborough’s Jordan Cufflin Stableford hit a powerful shot that went just wide as the home side began to make progress and might well have gone in a goal up as Bubi had a one on one with the keeper but the teams went in at half time at 0-0.
The Loughborough manager Gareth Hussey rang the changes in the second half as the game looked to be heading for penalties and it did the trick. The Luffs stepped up the pressure on the visitors and won a series of corners but Anstey defended stubbornly. With fifteen minutes to go Loughborough got their breakthrough and it came from a surprising source. Defender Charlie Crawley on as a second half substitute rose above the Anstey defence from a free kick and powered his header into the top corner.
Thoughts of settling this tie with penalties were forgotten by Anstey and they went looking for the equalizer but the Loughborough defence is much stronger these days and held firm. Anstey inevitable opened up at the back and in the ninetieth minute Brian Bubi ran clear and slotted the ball past keeper Hughes. 2-0 and the game was won and into the next round go Loughborough.
Still a lot of work to do for manager Hussey to get out of the relegation zone as his team travel to Shepshed Ingles next Saturday for their league game.