RUGBY Town closed the gap on leaders Daventry Town to six points as they recorded a comeback win to take all three points in a 3-2 thriller with Cogenhoe United at Compton Park.
Simeon Tulloch drove forward in the opening five minutes and struck well at goal which brought keeper Stuart Lutter into action early on, whilst Fazel Koriya made his presence felt when ousting George Barnell in the box, only to be denied by the pro-active Cooks keeper.
The hosts were jubilant when taking a 33rd minute lead through Ryan Dove, who rose to meet Jack O’Connor’s darting header across the box from a corner kick to open the scoring.
It would only take six minutes for the title challengers to draw level.
Lewis Rankin picked out Koriya inside the penalty area, who took advantage of a defender slipping to skip past and dart a shot into the far corner of the net just before the interval.
The second-half began in drab fashion, but on 56 minutes a fine strike by Rankin put the visitors in front for the first time, rasping a sumptuous drive just inside the left-hand post that was simply unstoppable for Lutter.
A hint of controversy followed in the closing quarter of an hour when Rugby were awarded a penalty, a corner kick was floated in and with Alex Lowery ruled to have been holding down his marker at the set-piece, the referee pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Koriya and amidst the anger from the Cogenhoe players, made no mistake to put Town into a cushioned lead.
Koriya almost sealed a hat-trick as he met a drilled ball into the box and crashed his header against the crossbar, but ultimately Rugby’s victory would be decided by a single goal.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, a quick Cogenhoe throw saw Dove collect possession before turning into space and cracking a deadly strike inside Matt Hill’s post.
The win ensures pressure is kept up on Daventry, having now played the same number of games, and only sitting six points and six goals worse off in the goal difference stakes.
Next up for Rugby is another trip to Northamptonshire, as Rugby face 16th placed Northampton ON Chenecks at Old Northamptonians Sports Ground on Saturday (3pm).
