ROD STILL SEARCHES FOR FIRST LEAGUE WIN

Rod Brown is still looking for his first league win in charge at the club after a single goal at Ladysmead condemned his side to a third straight defeat in the BGBLP.

Radley Veale's first half strike was all that eventually separated the two sides, and the defeat sees Rugby drop a further place to 15th in the table.

Once again Valley started a game by far the brighter side, and David Staff's low shot was brilliantly saved by Tivvy keeper Ray Johnston after just two minutes.

Shortly after, Dave Pearson pulled his shot narrowly wide after good work on the wing from Scott Musgrove, with the visitors looking clear favourites to open the scoring.

The hosts rallied though, and Simon Bochenski's header was touched onto the crossbar by Simon Lynn, with the young goalie also saving well later in the half from Chris Young.

The home side finished the first period the stronger outfit, and Aaron Stringfellow cleared another effort off the line on the half an hour mark. Tiverton’s dominance was then confirmed when Veale finished off Chris Young's cross from the left hand side on 38 minutes.

The second half of the game was a disappointing affair, with neither side looking likely to add to the score.

Pearson, Staff and Tom Breward all saw their long range efforts fly wildly off target for Rugby, whilst the Devon side seemed content with their slender advantage, and as a result Lynn remained largely untroubled throughout the period.

Valley Line-up: Lynn, Stringfellow, Morley, Herbert, Gordon, Musgrove, Francis (Breward), Scott (Evans), Pearson, Kolodynski (Stone), Staff.
Subs not used: Aladetoun.
Booked: n/a.
Sent Off: None

Report by Jon Venner.