VALLEY COME FROM BEHIND TO SEE OFF 10 MAN GREENFORD

Valley battled to a narrow win at 10-man North Greenford United with strike pairing David Kolodynski and Seb Lake-Gaskin on target.

By CRAIG WEBB Tweet

Photo: Martin Pulley

Striker Seb Lake-Gaskin fires in what turned out to be the winning goal for Rugby at North Greenford

Rugby had to do it the hard way - missing a string of good chances including a penalty miss from Kolodynski, going a goal behind in the first half before recovering with two well-taken goals in the second half.

Rugby got back to winning ways with a hard fought victory at Berkeley Avenue on Saturday. After dropped points in their last 2 games, Town were desperate to get back on track with victory at struggling Greenford.

Manager Dave Stringer made two changes to the starting line up with Alex Gudger and Steve Palmer in for Fazel Koriya and Ed Booth.

On a bitterly cold afternoon, Rugby dominated play in the opening half an hour with enough chances to put the game beyond reach of the home side.

In form Sam Youngs, threaded through a lovely ball to David Kolodynski but the striker delayed his shot allowing Sam Mazurek in goal to save comfortably.

Then, just a couple of minutes later a goalmouth scramble ensued with both Youngs and Palmer having shots saved or blocked.

A turning point of the game came in the 26th minute when North Greenford had a player sent off for deliberate handball in the area resulting in a penalty for Rugby.

Captain Liam Hind the guilty person handling Kolodynski's goalbound effort.

Rugby though could not take advantage as Kolodynski saw his penalty saved by Mazurek.

Despite dominating play, Rugby fell behind in the 40th minute, when Aaron Silcott went on an impressive run going past a couple of defenders before unleashing a low shot from about 12 yards sending Dave Bevan the wrong way in Greenford's only attack of the first half.

With the players coming out to driving rain in the second half, playing conditions got more difficult but Rugby found their feet and got the deserved equalizer in the 62nd minute when Kolodynski made up for the penalty miss by by seeing his accurate shot go in off the post after a good pass from Youngs.

Then Town got what proved to be the winner when Youngs, again the provider, slotted the ball through to Seb Lake-Gaskin who scored with a cracking shot from 18 yards out.

The second goal took the energy out of the home side and Rugby looked for the third goal, and despite a cracking effort from Kolodynski which was saved by Mazurek, they had to settle for a narrow scoreline.

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

North Greenford United: Mazurek, Hillier, Jacobs, Wallace, Sonuga, Hind, Silcott, Taylor, Ward, Balal, Carter.