LOW NOON FOR VALLEY

Rugby Town slumped to a third successive home defeat with Burnham good value for the points in the midday kick-off at Butlin Road.

By Jon Venner Tweet

Photo: Martin Pulley

Full-back Craig Kelly had a good game for Rugby but his efforts were in vain on the day

Seb Lake-Gaskin had actually given Rugby the lead on 34 minutes against the run of play, but the visitors fought back well to establish a two goal cushion – before Lake-Gaskin gave Valley some hope for the closing ten minutes with his ninth goal of the season.

Burnham started the game in the ascendance, with all the main chances of the opening half an hour going their way. John Munday headed wide, Jordan Dowdican screwed one wide from close range and Ryan Bird’s header was also blocked, as they pushed hard to open the scoring.

However, Lake-Gaskin then showed good strength to hold off two Burnham defenders before applying a neat finish past Michael Watkins to give Town an unexpected advantage.

Dowdican headed straight at Dave Bevan shortly after, but the away side were soon level when Daniel Willment hooked the ball back into the net from an improbable angle.

Burnham again settled quicker after the restart, with Ashley Smith having a shot blocked before Bird edged his side ahead when Bevan could only get a hand to his shot on the turn on 59 minutes.

Robbie Banks lifted one just over the bar from the edge of the penalty area with Rugby’s only real shot in anger, before the league’s leading scorer Bird headed home Smith’s corner to seemingly make the game safe for the visitors.

Valley’s heads initially appeared to drop at that point, but they eventually rallied and David Kolodynski almost got onto a ball over the top of the Burnham defence.

Sam Youngs’s flicked header was blocked, and then Town reduced the deficit when Youngs threaded the ball through to Lake-Gaskin – who again finished well.

Substitute Steve Palmer headed Craig Kelly’s corner narrowly wide and Watkins pulled off a reaction save from Kolodynski’s close range header, as Rugby searched for a late equaliser.

At the other end, Bevan denied danger man Bird a hat-trick with a good stop.

Valley Line-up: Bevan; Austin, Kelly, Rowley, Booth; Myles (Palmer), Koriya, Youngs, Banks; Lake-Gaskin, Kolodynski. Subs not used: Gudger, Hall, Wilson. Booked: Kolodynski, Rowley, Banks.