Rossington Main suffered a second consecutive one goal defeat in the second NCEL Premier Division fixture against Bradford-based Albion Sports, with a crackerjack of a goal from Lewis Waddingham securing the spoils for The Lions.

Injuries forced Rosso into making several changes ahead of the midweek clash at Oxford Street with skipper Reece Fielding and forward Myron Gibbons having to watch on from the sidelines. Meanwhile Scott Ruthven withdrew from the team during the warm-up. This opened the door for first starts of the season for Mack Warne and Archie Micklethwaite.

The first chance of the evening fell to Albion Sports, who sent the crossbar reverberating on eight minutes after a strike from distance.

Minutes later, Brad Grayson showed great strength to hold off his man on the left-hand side allowing him to cut infield and put Ross Hannah in the clear, but the onrushing Lions keeper’ was well placed to block the shot from close quarters.

Rosso threatened on the attack from the left once more, this time Oli Nowak showed some neat footwork to dance his way into the box, before picking out Grayson whose goalward shot was stopped at close range by The Lions rearguard.

Ultimately, however, Main were punished for not capitalising on their early chances, going a goal behind on 22 minutes. A long throw down the line saw Alex Phillipson get the wrong side of Waddingham, who unleashed a spectacular half-volley from the edge of the right-hand corner of the box, looping over the backtracking Tom Wallace.

Both sides then traded chances before half-time, Hannah unable to generate the neccessary power on his header, from another Nowak cross, to trouble the goal, and a second test of the crossbar directly from an Albion Sports corner.

Wallace was able to prevent Lee Elam’s side from doubling their advantage early in the second half, getting down to his right to push away a close-range free kick.

Rossington found opportunities few and far between, though they did ask questions with several inviting crosses into the box. A deep Grayson corner found Kian Holloway at the back post; his header across the face of goal evading the outstretched leg of Micklethwaite who was unable to find what was sure to be a decisive touch.

Substitute Masai Arbouin found himself at the centre of the late action coming close to a leveller on two occasions. Holloway played architect for both, escaping his man down the right with a quick change of direction for the first, but Arbouin’s on-the-turn effort was superbly saved by the outstretched stopper.

Similar circumstances gave Arbouin a second bite at the cherry, this time testing his aerial prowess, but unable to quite get over the ball, the last chance of the game was at a welcome height for Michael Roxburgh to claim in the first win of the season for his side.

Rosso XI: Wallace (GK), Phillipson, Green, Warren, King, Warne (52’ Hunt), Mitchell, Micklethwaite (64’ Arbouin), Grayson, Hannah (31’ Holloway), Nowak.

Unused: Hunter.