VALLEY STUN YELTZ WITH BIG PERFORMANCE

Photo: Martin Pulley

Matt Gearing runs at speed during the second half at The Grove. The right winger looked back to his best form cutting the Halesowen defence to ribbons at times.

Rugby Town destroyed high-flying Halesowen Town on their own patch with an excellent away performance including another two goals from David Kolodynski.

Two goals in each half were easily enough for Rugby to see off 2nd-placed Halesowen and record their biggest away win for nearly five years in stylish fashion.

The result will be a big shock to teams around the BGB Premier although on the day, Valley performed exceptionally well as a team and could and should have won the game by a far greater margin, given the amount of chances created.

Rugby boss Tony Dobson made just one change from the in against Hitchin with midfielder Scott Musgrove returning from a one game suspension in place of Kieran Fitzharris.

23-goal Kolodynski and strike partner David Stone were both in tremendous form, causing the Yeltz defence problems right from the first whistle.

Valley, in stark contrast to last weekend, could not have started any better and were ahead inside five minutes.

After Kolodynski had been brought down just outside the area in a wide position, the young striker was then on hand to finish emphatically on the volley from seven yards from Stephan Morley's expertly taken free-kick.

Rugby dominated the early stages, although they could never had thought at this stage that the extent of control would be so encompassing and last throughout the entire ninety minutes.

The visitors doubled thier lead before the half hour mark when Stone's patience, intricate footwork and low cross in the area were perfectly complemented by Delroy Gordon's crisp near post volley.

Halesowen only had two chances of note before the break while Matt Gearing, Stone and King all spurned golden opportunities for Valley while the referee turned down what looked like a certain penalty when Stone was felled in the area.

Early tactical substitutions and injuries meant that Halesowen had to field just ten players for the second half and this certainly did not help them as Rugby kept up the pressure.

Gearing, Stone and King all saw goal-bound efforts cleared off the line during goalmouth scrambles while great chances for Kolodynski and Stone were not converted.

At 2-0, Halesowen were still in the game but Valley goalkeeper Andrew Stevens was pleased to see Darren Caskey's close range free-kick rebound back off the post.

All aspects of Valley's play were good with the back four solid and the midfield quartet in dominating form.

Rugby finally killed the game off with ten minutes remaining when the Morley-Kolodynski combination was again effective.

The left back stole the ball in the middle of the park before sliding the ball through for Kolodynski who took his time before buring his second of the game at the goalkeeper's near post.

Morley, Gearing and Fitzharris saw long range efforts narrowly miss the target, test the goalkeeper and jut the woodwork respectively before the final goal of the game.

Full back Liam Nicell found himself in the Halesowen penalty area and his deflected shot struck the woodwork before finding its way to David Staff, who made no mistake from close range - his second goal in two games since his return.

Goalkeeper Stevens still had time to prove his worth to the team with a fine late save when Yeltz striker Danks was one-on-one as Rugby finished the game almost as a training exercise.

Valley Line-up: Stevens; Nicell, Breward, Gordon, Morley; Gearing, Musgrove, King (Fitzharris), Staff (Purton); Stone, Kolodynsk (Taylor)i. Subs not used: Simpson, Woodall. Booked: None. Sent off: None.

Halesowen Line-up: TBC. Subs not used: TBC.

Report by RTFC Online.