A DESERVED SHARE OF THE SPOILS FOR VALLEY

Scott Musgrove goes close to grabbing a goal during the first half at Butlin Road

Town were unlucky not force a second successive victory at Butlin Road on Tuesday night against an experienced Knitters side containing veteran ex-West Brom midfielder Richard Sneekes and Nuneaton's recent FA Cup goalscoring hero Gez Murphy.

Rugby more than held their own in a competitive encounter, and having took the lead on 84 minutes through Delroy Gordon, they immediately let the visitors back in the game when Jon Stevenson curled his shot past Farhad Afandiyev.

Manager Billy Jeffrey can take a number of positives from the game though - including another typically physical performance in the centre of midfield from Tom Breward, snatches of the explosive pace of Akin Aladetoun up front and an encouraging first sight of triallist Stuart Sinclair on the right hand flank.

Breward had nearly matched his long range goal on Saturday with another effort from just inside the opposition half on 63 minutes, but this time opposition keeper Sean Bowers just managed to get a hand to the ball to keep it out of the top corner.

Aladetoun too had had a replica opportunity from the Luton game when released one-on-one with Bowers, but this time his finish was straight at the keeper.

Either side of the Aladetoun first half miss, Rugby had been denied goals by debatable refereeing decisions. First David Stone's goal was chalked off after the striker was adjudged to have fouled Tony Butler, and then Andy Commander's header was also ruled out for a foul on the keeper.

Other first half highlights saw Alex Bacherini pulling off a fine stop to deny Neil Cartwright from point blank range and Scott Musgrove blazing over from just inside the box after good work from Sinclair. Greg Pearson also wasted a good opportunity for the visitors in the first period.

Hinckley started the second half the stronger, and Afandiyev was down well to keep out Murphy's low effort, and Richard Lavery's header came back off the bar after a well-delivered set piece.

Gordon's opening goal looked to have sealed the game though, after he finished off Breward's near post flick from Joel Young's corner. However Stevenson had the last word less than a minute later with his 20 yard strike which caught Afandiyev flat-footed.

Valley Lineup: Alex Bacherini (Faz Afandiyev), Mark Edge, Stefan McGrath (Joel Young), Andy Commander, Delroy Gordon, Tom Breward, Stuart Sinclair (David Kolodynski), Willis Francis, Akin Aladetoun, David Stone (Tristan Kabongo), Scott Musgrove (Robert Gondwe).

Report by Jon Venner.