Rugby Too Strong For Sutton
A new-look Rugby Town looked impressive in their second pre-season friendly with a 5-2 victory over Sutton Coldfield Town at Coles Lane.
It was the first glimpse of action of defensive pairing Lee Thomas and Loyiso Recci who were available after holidays while there were starts for Academy prospects Dan Flack in goal and Jamal Adams in attack.
Midfielder Richard Bunting and defender Aiden Print remained on the sidelines due to injury while Matt Hill and Charlie Faulkner were on holiday.
Valley were particularly dominant during the first half racing into a three goal lead with new striker Danico Johnson particularly impressive with two excellent goals including a well taken strike after dribbling past two defenders and an overhead kick.
Adams ran onto a poor back header by a Sutton defender to round former Valley goalkeeper Lewis Gwilliams to score.
Sutton got back two goals before half time as they firstly capitalised on Luke Edwards missed kick to score before scoring direct from a free-kick.
Lewis Rankin scored his own goal of individual quality, nutmegging his marker in the box before poking into the net.
The second half saw a raft of changes for both sides with Sam Lockley completing the scoring with a neat finish from fellow substitute Harry Holloway's through-pass.
Valley Starting XI: Dan Flack; Loyiso Recci, Luke Edwards, Dom Perkins; Keenah Rosser, Lee Thomas, Richard Blythe, Justin Marsden, Lewis Rankin; Danico Johnson, Jamal Adams. |