LANE TAKE VALLEY BACK TO BUTLIN ROAD

Photo: Martin Pulley

Delroy Gordon battles for possession during the first half at Friar Lane

Valley lived to fight another day in the FA Cup sponsored by E.On last Saturday, earning a replay in their entertaining 1st Qualifying Round tie against the Leicester based side.

In what was always going to be a potential banana skin encounter, Town generally acquitted themselves well – especially considering the unsettling events of the previous ten days on the managerial front and the low levels of morale that their poor start to the league season has brought.

Caretaker boss Craig Herbert made two changes to the side that started the drubbing from Hemel the previous weekend. Central defender Ashley Walker returned to the side after having completed a three match suspension, and striker Rory Curtis was given a first start of the season after five appearances previously from the bench.

Neil King and Steve Purton were the two players to miss out as a result, and the subsequent positional changes saw Richard Scott operate from a central midfield position and David Kolodynski handed a wide role once more.

Aside from an opening flourish from the home side, when their lively striker Kris Stevenson could have scored after just thirty seconds, and also saw Aaron Dignum head wide from a dangerous position in the box, Rugby looked relatively comfortable against their lower level opponents.

Town created a number of good chances – especially in the latter stages of both halves, and as a result really should have finished the game off at the first attempt.

Rory Curtis was the biggest culprit on this front, missing out no less than six times in a ten minute period in the lead-up to the half-time whistle. First he shot over, before he was twice cleverly put through by his strike partner Daren Dykes – only to scuff his effort inviting for Lane keeper Ben Hall and then pull another attempt wide.

Hall turned another Curtis strike round the post after the youngster had ran onto a searching long pass. His next shot from the left hand side was also saved, before a final strike at goal was blocked by a defender.

Before Curtis’s flurry, Dykes had already struck a post after he had cut in well from a wide position, and the same player’s touch had let him down at the far post when an opening goal looked a distinct possibility.

Valley also squandered a couple of free-kicks from dangerous positions – with both Dykes and then Richard Scott firing well-wide of the target.

Friar were doing all they could to unsettle the visitors, and whilst the game was generally played in a good spirit, there were a few clinical challenges flying in too.

Referee Sheffield had set a tone of leniency from the off though, when failing to take the name of home skipper Daniel Hodgkinson for his late, crude tackle from behind on Curtis. Later in the game, the match official did little to boost his popularity with the vocal following from Rugby when he waived away three penalty appeals, with Dykes, then Matt Gearing and then Dykes again all potentially taken out in the area.

More chances had gone begging for Valley in the second half. Dykes’s header was helped over the bar by a combination of keeper Hall and Nick Brett, and then the same player drilled the resulting corner into the side netting.

David Kolodynski shot wide after a strong run, and then he headed over Steve Purton’s swinging ball into the box – before doing the same when always reaching for Dykes’s cross to the far post. Gearing’s low shot was parried low down by Hall, and Curtis headed wide from Gearing’s cross.

There was of course always the fear that Lane would break and snatch an undeserved winner at the other end. Their best chance came when John Chapman almost snuck in at the far post, but generally Andrew Stevens was merely a spectator for long periods of the second half.

Valley Line-up: Stevens, Gordon, Commander, Herbert, Walker (Purton), Scott, Gearing, M Taylor, Dykes, Curtis, Kolodynski. Subs not used: Edge, King, Ryan, Martin. Booked: None. Sent off: None.

Friar Lane Line-up: Hall, MacDonald, Smith, Hodgkinson, Brett, Turner (Surridge), Trevor, Dignum (Plumb), Chapman, Stevenson (Phillips), Gibbons. Subs not used: Limbert, Jerrison, Williams, Hughes.

Report by Jon Venner.