Valley face a trip to Stoke to face an FA Cup Preliminary Round replay after Norton snatched a late draw at Butlin Road.

Town looked far from convincing in Saturday’s encounter, despite boss Dave Stringer making four changes to the side that had suffered a 5-0 whipping at Daventry five days earlier.

Ed Booth made a first start of the campaign, and Sam Youngs, Richard Blythe and David Kolodynski were also all restored to the line-up, but it was the lower level visitors that created the first real chance when Jonathan Beaumont’s shot was turned round the post by Niall Cooper.

Rugby’s nerves were settled a little on thirteen minutes, when Youngs opened the scoring with a well-struck low finish after Alex Gudger’s initial long range effort had fallen short at the midfielder’s feet.

Kolodynski twice went close ahead of the interval, as Valley looked to build on their advantage.

He first tested United keeper Danny Roberts with an acrobatic effort, and then saw his cheeky chip almost creep over the line. Norton returned after the break with renewed vigour though, but despite a territorial and possession advantage, they rarely troubled the home back-line.

At the other end, both Sheldon Dodd and Gudger did miss good chances to settle the tie, before the visitors finally got their reward with just two minutes remaining when Daniel Brown finished off Jacob Vernon’s hooked cross at the second attempt - after Craig Kelly had failed to clear his lines.

Valley Line-up: Cooper; Myles, Kelly, Booth, Gudger; Blythe (Spencer), Marsden, Belcher, Youngs; Lake-Gaskin (McBride); Kolodynski (Dodd). Subs not used: Rowley, Williams, Palmer, Bishop. Booked: None.

Norton line-up: Roberts, Bradbury, Clarkson, Smith, Chadwick, Beaumont, Baker, McDonald, Winkle, Brown, Green. Subs: Vernon, Marren, Cropper, Skellern, Dundas, McHugh..