BROKEN HANDY ANDY COMPOUNDS VALLEY MISERY

Tom Breward makes a challenge with Eastwood's Anthony Howell during the second half

Valley suffered their first defeat of the warm-up campaign last Saturday, putting in an ineffectual display at newly-promoted Unibond Premier side Eastwood in the process.

The disappointment of the performance was further compounded by the loss of defender Andy Commander through injury after just 20 minutes of the game and then an aborted return to action of last season's top scorer Jason Taylor, who limped off just five minutes into his second half appearance as a substitute with a recurrence of a knee injury.

Commander's withdrawal with a suspected broken hand came after the home side had already taken the lead through Craig Swinscoe, after the midfielder had seized upon a poor clearance from Tom Breward to curl the ball home from 25 yards out.

Without Commander's physical presence at the heart of the defence, Rugby struggled to deal with the direct style of the opposition. In particular Badgers' front pairing of Lindon Meikle and Anthony Howells were a constant threat - especially late on in the game when further precautionary withdrawals of Delroy Gordon and Stefan Morley left Town with a decidedly inexperienced and unfamiliar back-line.

Valley's best chances came in a two minute spell midway through the first period. Fabien Smith's clever chipped through ball found David Stone, who laid it off to David Kolodynski to release a low driven shot which was well saved by Eastwood keeper Ian Deakin. Smith's corner then found the head of Breward, but his looping header was just off-target.

Both Meikle and Howells squandered first half opportunities to double their side's lead, with Meikle screwing his shot well wide and Howells putting his into the side netting.

On the stroke of half-time, Akin Aladetoun battered his way through the Badgers' defence, before cutting the ball back to Stone. Unfortunately his strike partner's shot lacked power and was easily gathered by Deakin.

More hesitant defending on 52 minutes led to Eastwood's second, with Howells applying a simple side-footed finish to Meikle's cross, and then two minutes later the home side sealed the game for certain when Ricky Hanson followed-up on Meikle's shot, which triallist goalkeeper Alex Bacherini had spilled at the full-back's feet.

Rugby posed little threat in a disappointing second half performance, and were far too often of gifting their Northern League opponents with possession.

Valley Lineup: Faz Afandiyev (Alex Bacherini), Brad Harris, Stefan Morley (Joel Young), Andy Commander (Michael Skubala), Delroy Gordon, David Kolodynski (Stefan McGrath), Willis Francis, Tom Breward, Akin Aladetoun, David Stone (Tristan Kabongo), Fabien Smith. Bookings: None. Sent Off: None.

Report by Jon Venner.