RUGBY Town got back to winning ways after coming from behind to beat Leighton Town 3-1 at the Bells Close stadium to keep the pressure on the Southern League Division One Central leaders.
Manager Dave Stringer made three changes to the side that exited the League Cup in midweek with Ben George, Sam Youngs and Richard Gregory returning to the starting line-up.
And it was the visitors who made the brighter start with Lewis McBride having a shot saved and Gregory got to the rebound first but saw his effort hit the side netting.
The home side had their first effort on goal in the 25th minute and with it took the lead through their impressive striker Danny Watson, who was quickest to react after Richard Morris could only palm Christian Lester’s shot at goal.
Leighton appeared to be on top now and had a chance to increase their lead on 29 minutes when Phil Draycott had his shot saved shooting from the edge of the area.
Rugby were finding the bobbly pitch difficult to play their passing game, and Richard Blythe resorted to a long ball to find Robbie Burns in the danger area. His lovely floating ball found Gregory who was too close to the keeper to make a shot.
The visitors seemed to adapt to the pitch conditions after the break and got back into the match in the 56th minute through Sam Youngs.
Substitute Seb Lake-Gaskin touched on a cracking ball to Youngs who volleyed his shot accurately and powerfully past Zaki Oualah in the Leighton goal.
Within 2 minutes Rugby took the lead when the industrious Burns reacted quickly to the rebound from Youngs shot and with him ten yards out drilled the ball home.
Rugby were now clearly on top and it was no surprise that they sealed victory in the 74th minute through Gregory.
Again Lake-Gaskin was involved laying on a ball to Gregory who after briefly running into trouble with the keeper saving his effort, the keeper bundled the ball back into his path to slot home from a tight angle.
The home side posed no threat in the remaining minutes as Rugby held on for a valuable three points.
Goalscorer Robbie Burns. (s) Photo by Martin Pulley
