Fleetwood Town

E-mail Article Print this story

Michael Corcoran

Related Links

• Teams
• Fleetwood Town

Rushden & Diamonds 1-1 Fleetwood

Michael Corcoran's injury-time header secured a 1-1 draw for Rushden & Diamonds against Blue Square Bet Premier new boys Fleetwood Town at Nene Park on Saturday.

Magno Viera opened the scoring for last season's Blue Square North play-off winners with a superb volley on 23 minutes. And it took until the dying minutes of the match for Corcoran to find the back of the net after Craig Farrell had missed a penalty.

Justin Edinburgh's side look disjointed for much of the first half as Town were the first to settle.

A poor defensive header by Curtis Osano was picked up by Viera, who composed himself before burying the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of Dale Roberts' net.

Wayne Curtis, Ian Craney and Nathan Pond all looked lively for Micky Mellon's side with Pond coming close with his head from free-kicks on more than one occasion.

Diamonds were given a chance to get back into the game with five minutes of the first half remaining as Paul Linwood fouled Alan Power in the box. But Farrell failed to get the better of Danny Hurst, who tipped the ball over the goal.

Both sides emerged from the second half slightly more cautious than they had been in the first but looked more composed as a result.

Hurst was called into action by Donovan Simmonds before Roberts reacted well to deny Viera a second.

A number of switches for the home side gave them a renewed impetus in the closing stages with Pond and Craig Farrell both hitting the side-netting after good build-up play.

But Corcoran made no mistake from a low Farrell corner as he got to the ball early and nodded home.

Rushden & D'monds bookings: Corcoran.

Fleetwood Town bookings: Beeley, Linwood.

Att: 1248.

Ref: Simon Long.