Rugby had to settle for a replay on Tuesday at Butlin Road after letting slip a three-goal lead at the Oval in the FA Trophy Preliminary Round against local rivals Bedworth.

The match was sadly marred by an unfortunate collision during the first half which resulted in an injury to Rugby centre back Elliot Palmer.

After a lengthy stoppage in play, Town's centre half was taken to hospital and spent the night in critical care with three broken ribs and bleeding to the kidney and liver.

It had been a relatively uneventful first half ahead of Palmer’s injury, although returning winger Lewis Rankin did twice force ex-Valley keeper James Martin into action and Jordan Archer had also fired one wide for the hosts.

Archer hit the upright soon after the defender was stretchered off, before Rankin struck for Rugby as the interval approached when he pounced on a loose ball in the area to finish past Martin.

Valley started very brightly in the second half and David Kolodynski had already missed a decent chance for the visitors ahead of Jake Woolley making it two on 52 minutes when he dipped a superb free-kick over the wall and into the net from the edge of the area.

It was three just after the hour mark as Rankin grabbed his second by finishing neatly into the corner from just inside the area, after Kolodynski's low cross was only half cleared.

The Greenbacks rallied after this though, and created themselves a lifeline in the 71st minute when Connor failed to deal with Danny Kavanagh’s hanging cross and Luke Rowe pounced to drill in a low shot from the edge of the area into the unguarded net.

The Greenbacks become more and more direct and they soon found more success when Archer powerfully headed into the top corner from another ex-Town man Justin Marsden’s corner kick.

The home side pressed hard for an equaliser, with Connor doing well to push Rowe’s free-kick away for a corner. However from the resulting set-piece, Bedworth substitute Isyden Christie headed home Nathan Haines’ hook-back across the box.

Valley Line-up: Connor; Stringfellow, Bukasa, Fishwick, Palmer (Gomes); Moses-Garvey, Woolley, Faulkner; Rankin (Brain), Wilson (Boitos), Kolodynski. Subs not used: Holloway, Heath. Booked: Fishwick, Wilson.

Bedworth line-up: Martin, Kavanagh, Rowe, Parrott, Bryan, Haines, Marsden, Blythe, Archer, Creaney (Christie), Moore (Brehon) Subs not used: Simpson, Albrighton, Penny.