RUGBY FAIL TO REPEAT QUARTER FINAL HEROICS AT THE WALKS

Rugby Town's Errea Cup adventure came to an end at the quarter final stage, with two late Linnet goals giving the scoreline an unfair reflection, after a promising overall performance from the Valley at the Walks Stadium.

Aaron Stringfellow had given the visitors an early lead on 11 minutes when he finished off Dave Pearson's cross at the far post, but the home side were soon level again thanks to a scrappy equaliser from Seamus Kelleher.

Despite Matt Nolan's first time finish just after the hour mark which gave King's the advantage, Rugby were clearly the better side in the second half. David Staff tested keeper Rob Murray on a number of occasions - with one low save on 57 minutes standing out in particular.

Stringfellow almost added to his tally when he only just failed to make contact with Walsall youngster Rory Curtis's teasing ball across the box, and substitute Akin Aladetoun’s attempted lob drew another fine stop from Murray with just three minutes remaining.

The hosts' third and fourth goals came in the dying moments of the game, and both were from breakaways originating from Town set-pieces at the other end of the pitch.

Striker Mark Heath-Preston was the central figure in both counter-attacks, with Nolan grabbing his second of the night after Heath-Preston had seen his original shot saved by Joel Skeldon, and the forward himself rounding off the scoring in added time by coolly skipping past Skeldon and rolling the ball into the empty net.

Valley Line-up: Skeldon 6, Scott 7, Morley 7, Herbert 6, Gordon 6, Breward 6, Stringfellow 6 (Aladetoun 6), Edge 6, Curtis 7, Pearson 7 (Kolodynski 7), STAFF 7*.
Subs not used: Blake
Booked: None.
Sent Off: None

Report by Jon Venner.