Rovers back to winning ways

Barton Rovers 2 Northwood 1

Barton Rovers finally ended a run of seven straight Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central defeats with a 2-1 victory over Northwood at Sharpenhoe Road on Saturday.

Manager Dan Kennoy recalled Paul Andrews to the starting line up after suspension, while Bobby Dance was unavailable.

New strike pairing Aaron Lansiquot and Ricky Case combined within the first five minutes to get Rovers off to a great start as Lansiquot drove a fierce shot low into the corner for the opening goal.

Barton were then denied what looked like a penalty when Case was felled in the area, but the home attacker was booked for diving.

Northwood drew level on 23 minutes when Adamson Ajayi netted, but Rovers reacted positively as Rhys Hoenes’ shot from distance was kicked away by keeper James Reading, while Phil Smeaton fired into the side-netting.

Rovers had the second goal five minutes before the interval when Lansiquot found Case and he unleashed a precise finish past Reading.

After the break, Northwood were down to 10 men when Danny McDonnell was booked twice in the space of two minute after being terrorised by Smeaton.

Substitutes Jonny McNamara, Sam James and Dylan Gittings all got valuable minutes, the second two making their Barton debuts, as Rovers held on for the points.

A relieved Kennoy said: “I’m delighted for the players to finally get a reward for their hard work.

“It’s been a long time coming, too long, but we’ve been in this position last season, where we only had seven points from 10 games, so we’re already two points better off.

“We’re not naive to think we don’t need to improve but the important thing is as a group we all are working hard to do just that.

“We have had a shake up in the squad, both in tactics and personnel and it’s taken a couple of weeks for everyone to adjust, but the next couple of games will hopefully start to see us settle down and pick up more points.”

Barton travel to Beaconsfield tonight.