Rushall Olympic 4 Lowestoft Town 1

A serious injury to striker Shaun Bammant cast a shadow over Lowestoft's visit to Rushall Olympic.
The horrendous tackle by Omin Pendley 10 minutes from time left Bammant prostrate on the ground and caused the game to be delayed for 40 minutes whilst an ambulance was called.
In the aftermath of the game it was confirmed that Bammant had broken his leg in two places.
In the game itself Lowestoft more than matched their high flying hosts in all departments except for finishing. In Jonathan Letford, Rushall had the outstanding player on the pitch who scored a brace and was a handful all afternoon.
In a frenetic opening 10 minutes Lowestoft had the first chance with Bammant heading just too high from a Jack Wilkinson cross.
On seven minutes Rushall took the lead as Letford found Chekaine Steele who moved inside before firing inside the far post despite Luis Tibbles getting a hand to the ball.
Lowestoft soon bounced back with Jake Reed hammering in a shot which produced a superb save from Jon Flatt. However from the resultant corner, Louis McIntosh's flag kick saw Bammant stoop to head home the equaliser.
An excellent contest saw playing swinging from end to end with Flatt producing another tremendous save to deny Reed again after the striker had been played through by Miguel Lopez.
Rushall regained the lead in the 28th minute when a long clearance found Letford in acres of space and he lifted the ball high past Tibbles into the net.
Lowestoft should have equalised on the stroke of half time but from 10 yards McIntosh hit over the top.
Lowestoft started the second half brightly with Bammant forcing an excellent save from the home keeper and McIntosh going just wide before the Trawlerboys were hit by a double whammy as Rushall scored twice inside a minute to effectively kill the game.
On 59 minutes Danny O'Callaghan's excellent through ball released Letford to go round Tibbles to score.
Straight from the restart Lowestoft lost the ball and Steele cut inside before sending a 20 yard shot just inside the near post.
Then came that terrible injury 25 yards from goal resulting in the players leaving the pitch whilst Bammant was treated.
When play resumed Lowestoft tried hard to get back into the game but Rushall were able to play out the remaining 10 minutes.

Rushall Olympic: Flatt, Lyttle (Lund 69), Charlton (Shah 90), Smith (Mitchell 75), Clarke, Pendley, Leachman-Whittingham, Moore, O'Callaghan, Letford, Steele. Subs not used: Fryatt, Sibanda

Lowestoft Town: Tibbles, Curry, Jack Wilkinson, Lopez (Sub Deeks 69), Cole, Jarvis, Williams (Sub Zielonka 69), McIntosh, Reed, Bammant (Sub Richardson 80), Linton. Subs not used: Fisk, Marcus Wilkinson

Referee: Mr D Pattison

Attendance: 251

Terry Lynes