STRINGFELLOW'S HEROICS CAN'T SAVE THE DAY

Rugby's goalkeeping crisis reached a pinnacle against Hemel as defender Aaron Stringfellow was forced to don the gloves in the second half due to injury to Alessandro Barcherini. Stringfellow later saved a penalty.

Valley are still looking for their first BGBL point of the season, after suffering their third consecutive defeat of the campaign in an incident-packed match at the Vauxhall Ground.

The home side were good value for their victory, but it was Rugby that took the lead just three minutes into the game when Stefan Morley grabbed his second goal of the season when he curled home a free-kick which had been awarded after Akin Aladetoun and David Kolodynski had combined well in attack - with the latter pulled back by a defender.

Hemel were almost immediately back in the game, when Aaron Stringfellow was harshl adjudged to have handled in the box. Fortunately Drew Roberts missed the resulting penalty, striking a post with his spot-kick.

The Tudors were then rewarded for their pressure on 16 minutes - with Nathan Bowden-Haase providing a close-range finish to a deep free-kick, which the Rugby defence were unable to deal with effectively.

Matt Gearing then failed to find the target with a couple of efforts, and David Staff also shot over from the edge of the box.

Seven minutes into the second half, Chris Herron's cross was contested by Hemel striker Gary Sippetts and Rugby skipper Craig Herbert - with Herbert appearing to get the final touch to the ball as it flew past Alessandro Barcherini and into the net.

Barcherini had to leave the field shortly after suffering from a side injury, and without a recognised keeper on the bench, Billy Jeffrey was forced to turn to Stringfellow to don the gloves.

Stringfellow performed well in this unaccustomed role - pulling off a string of good saves, including one from the penalty spot with Roberts again the taker.

Rugby created little in the second period, with the hosts confirming their rating amongst the teams fancied to challenge for honours this season.

Hemel sealed their victory deep into injury time, when Josh Sozzo applied another finish from close-in, after Rugby had been caught short of numbers on the break.

Valley Line-up: Barcherini 6 (Edge 6), STRINGFELLOW 7*, Morley 7 (Musgrove 5), Herbert 5, Gordon 6, Breward 6, Gearing 6, Francis 5, Aladetoun 5, Kolodynski 5 (Stone 6), Staff 6.
Sub not used: Harris
Booked: Francis, Gordon, Staff, Stringfellow.
Sent Off: None

Hemel Line-Up: Smith, Kearns, Herron, Valentini (Sinclair), Bowden-Haase, Yeboah, Burgess, Cracknell (Martin), Sippetts, Roberts (Sozzo), Edgeworth.
Subs not used: Kean, Brown

Report by Jon Venner.