ALL
SQUARE AT THE OVAL
Town
kicked off their warm-up fixtures by sharing six
goals with local
rivals Greenbacks at the Oval on Tuesday evening.
It
was a typical pre-season affair, with both sides
still feeling their way towards the new campaign
and consequently was punctuated by a number of
individual player errors.
The
first half of the game was competitive - at times
even contradicting its 'friendly' billing, and
whilst Valley probably just edged the 45 minutes
in terms of possession, they found themselves
a goal down at the break after they failed to
defend a free-kick properly and allowed Lee Greenway
to sneak a header past Farhad Afandiyev.
Town
had threatened to get behind the home defence
a number of times, but the combination of a vigilant
linesman and a lack of concentration from front
line players David Stone, Akinwale Aladetoun and
David Kolodynski meant they were all too often
stopped in their tracks.
Bedworth
emerged for the second period with a totally different
eleven, and they extended their lead on 54 minutes
when Martin Palmer found himself in space behind
the Valley defence and applied a simple finish.
After
this further blow, Town bounced back with their
best spell of the match - pinning their opponents
in their own half for most of it, whilst playing
some neat, attractive passing football.
This
twenty minute comeback period also brought them
their three goals, with David Kolodynski finishing
off Scott Musgrove's mis-hit shot on 62 minutes,
Tristan Kabongo tapping home after Stone had broke
through the United defence on 68 minutes, and
then Stefan McGrath giving them the lead two minutes
later after a good cross from Kolodynski.
The
lead was short-lived however, when hesitant defending
from Brad Harris allowed Bedworth to break, and
from the resulting cross a diving Andy Commander
header flew past his own keeper and into the back
of the net.
Rugby's
best chance thereafter saw a shot from Kolodynski
fly just over after he had cut inside from the
wing, and another long range effort from Stefan
Morley was well-saved by the Greenbacks' keeper.
Valley
boss Billy Jeffrey gave a full match to midfielder
Musgrove - who was at Stamford last season - and
ex-Kettering full-back Stefan Morley, and both
players impressed on their first appearance for
the club.
There
were also run-outs from the bench for triallists
Kabongo, McGrath and Boakya Agyeman. In addition
to his goal, Kabongo - who was on the books at
Hinckley for a spell last season - looked lively
after his introduction. McGrath is a product of
the Nuneaton Borough youth system and Agyeman
spent time at Kettering in 2006-07.
Harris,
Mark Edge and Joel Young from last season's youth
and reserve teams also featured.
Valley
Lineup: Faz Afandiyev, Brad Harris, Stefan
Morley, Andy Commander, Delroy Gordon (Boakya
Agyeman), David Kolodynski, Mark Edge (Stefan
McGrath), Tom Breward, Akin Aladetoun (Tristan
Kabongo), David Stone (Joel Young), Scott Musgrove.
Bookings: None. Sent Off: None.
Report
by Jon Venner. |