Rover's crashed out of the Bill Utting Cup in disappointing style this week, but the 5-1 scoreline goes nowhere near to telling the whole story of the game.
The Blues lined up with only 1 change from the side that beat Garboldisham in the league the previous week, with Andrew Clarke making a rare apperance in midfield, in for the missing Jamie Feltner, for Rover's first ever cup semi-final appearence.
The Blues began the game very strongly and there was certainly no gulf in class or ability between the division 2 and division 1 sides. Within the first ten minutes of the half, the home side should have been 2 up but both guilt edged chances were squandered. After that the visitors settled and came more into the game and began to create more of a threat when they came forward. The half then developed into a bit of a stalemate as both sides began to cancel each other out, as niether side were able to find their killer instinct in front of goal.
As half time approached the game swung the visitors way when an unfortunate clash of heads saw Rover's pair, Mark Leonard and Andrew Clarke taking no further part in the game, with the latter being taken straight to casualty with a very nasty cut to the head.
The Blues had to regroup during the break and had to shuffle the side around to provide the cover needed to replace the injured 2 but within 2 minutes of the restart Rover's had more bad luck to deal with when skipper, Justin McKenzie, joined Andrew Clarke in the West Suffolk Hospital, when an unseen push in the back, made him clatter into the goal post and cause serious injury to his knee, just as he was about to fire the Blues into a deserved lead.
With an ever growing injury list, especially defensively, Rover's were always facing an uphill battle against a quality side and within the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half, Barons found themselves 2 up as Rovers began to be opened up at the back with ease.
The patched up Blues then found a glimmer of hope in an otherwise miserable afternoon, when substitute, Angelo Goduti, headed in to half the deficit and put the tie back on a knife edge.
With their spirits raised the Blues managed to find another gear and had a 10 minute spell after scoring, where they threatened on a couple of occasions, only again to see some golden chances to level the match go begging.
The writing was on the wall for the Blues, as they continued to miss their chances and with 15 minutes remaining, the tie was decided, as the visitor capitalised on a mis-hit clearence by Rover's keeper, Dave Clarke, to go 3-1 up.
That goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the disjointed Blues, and the visitors walked off at the final whistle after scoring twice again to win the tie, rather flateringly, 5-1.
Rover's will now hope that their recent run of injuries has come to a timely end, as they look to regroup for their crucial league game, away at Bacton, next Saturday.
