KOLO’S LATE STRIKE CAPS FINE DISPLAY

Valley put in a tremendous performance to return from Berkshire with the victory over a much-fancied Slough Town – courtesy of David Kolodynski’s 89th minute winner.

By Jon Venner Tweet

After a relatively dreary and goal-less first half, the game came alive after the interval and Rugby opened up a two goal lead which the hosts then pegged back, before Kolodynski’s late strike did the trick.

Town boss Dave Stringer made two changes to the starting line-up from the disappointing display against Burnham at the weekend, with Alex Gudger and Steve Palmer replacing Ed Booth and Ellis Myles.

Slough, who had kept their FA Cup exploits alive with a hard fought for draw at Mansfield last Saturday, thought they had taken an early lead when Danny Burnell finished off a good move – but he was ruled offside.

Seb Lake-Gaskin did test home keeper James Warrington with a powerful strike after 15 minutes, but generally both sides’ shooting radar was faulty – with Slough clearing the ground on a number of occasions and Lake-Gaskin sending a subsequent effort well over the bar.

The major incident of the half came when Palmer was dismissed for two quickfire yellow cards, the second of which led to the best chance of the opening period with Ollie Burgess sending the resulting free-kick just wide of the post.

Ten man Valley broke the deadlock immediately from the restart though, with Kolodynski running at the Slough defence with pace and then finding Lake-Gaskin who himself beat a couple of players before finding the net with a low effort that somehow squirmed under Warrington’s body.

Referee Benjamin Furneux evened up the numbers seven minutes later, when another Kolodynski burst through the middle was halted by Danny Murphy, and the Slough full-back was sent-off for being adjudged to be the last man whilst denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Craig Kelly took the resulting free-kick, and once more Warrington’s handling was suspect as he spilled the set-piece, with Kolodynski eventually picking up the pieces to force the ball home and make it two-nil.

Inevitably the hosts stepped up their game from this point and put Rugby under some pressure.

Dave Bevan saved well from both Jake Parsons and Burnell, before Slough got one back when Burnell headed in Ed Smith’s delivery to the back post.

Adam Logie and Burnell then both went close from a corner, and at the other end Fazel Koriya’s jinking run ended with a wayward shot.

Koriya was back in the action shortly after, crossing for Kolodynski – but the striker volleyed a good opportunity over the bar from close range.

The Rebels made Rugby pay for that miss on 72 minutes when Smith latched onto a misdirected headed flick by Mason Rowley, and then expertly lifted the ball over Bevan’s head from fully thirty yards for the equaliser.

With plenty of space to exploit due to reduced number of players on the pitch, both teams went in search of the win.

Valley looked the most likely to achieve this, with the pace of Kolodynski, Koriya and Lake-Gaskin particularly threatening on the counter-attack in the closing exchanges of the game.

Lake-Gaskin’s cross from the right by-line was just missed by Koriya, before Kolodynski grabbed that late winner when he finished at the second attempt after Sam Youngs had put him clean through.

Warrington saved well from Koriya in stoppage time, as Rugby almost grabbed a fourth.

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

Slough Town: Warrington, Fraser, Murphy, Logie, Perkins, Woozley, Parsons, Burgess, Burnell, Smith, Sinclair. Subs: Sonner, Abbey, Marfo, Deeney, Vassell. .