LACKLUSTRE defending again cost Soham Town Rangers dear as they suffered a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Rugby Town.

LACKLUSTRE defending again cost Soham Town Rangers dear as they suffered a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Rugby Town.

Despite taking an early lead through debutante Lewis Carr, Ian Benjamin’s side were never comfortable at the back and shipped three goals in a damaging second half display that cost them a share of the spoils.

The loss, Soham’s sixth in nine match, leaves them mired at the bottom of the Zameretto Division One Central.

The Greens belied their eventual collapse with an excellent start to the game that saw them rattle their high flying opponents on several occasions.

Scott Carter vollied narrowly over the bar after good work from wingback Will Seymore and Tom Benjamin had a shot astutely blocked by Rugby keeper Clarke before Carr opened the scoring for Soham.

The Greens new centre back found himself well placed at the far post to tap home after a teasing corner.

The opener failed to propel Soham onto bigger things however, and Rugby were quick to respond with several half-chances kept out by a struggling home defence.

Parity was finally restored after 31 minutes as a ball squared from the by-line eluded several home defenders and fell into the path of Tyrone Fagan who made no mistake.

Soham’s Tom Benjamin may have struck back for the home side mere minutes later when he latched on to a lofted through ball but he rushed his effort and could only watch as it slipped tamely wide.

Rugby re-organised at the half-time break and came out determined to make life difficult for the slick passing Greens by closing them down at every opportunity. Their persistent harrying quickly paid dividends and they moved ahead on the hour mark as a half-cleared ball in the box was smashed home by Paddy Connelly.

Less than 10 minutes later Rugby all but sealed the win as Seb Hamilton scrambled home from a corner. Sam Mason-Smith went close to pulling a goal back for Soham in the dying minutes but his chipped effort rebounded frustrating off a post with the goalkeeper stranded yards from his line.

Rugby’s fourth goal came through Ollie Babington who was able to smash home from a corner in the third minute of injury time.