Rugby Town came from behind to make it through to the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2018 with a narrow victory over Studley.
The Warwickshire hosts had opened up a half-time lead thanks to captain Dan Carter's strike, but Rugby stepped up a couple of gears after the break and ultimately were good value for the win thanks to goals from David Kolodynski and Loyiso Recci.
Player-assistant manager Justin Marsden replaced Edwin Ahenkorah in the Town starting line-up, and the visitors were quickly out of the traps when Ryan Seal's shot from 25 yards was comfortably gathered by home keeper Brandon Bunn within the first minute.
Studley were soon causing problems of their own though, and Bunn's counterpart Matt Hill tipped an angled strike by Joe Blowers onto the woodwork, with Max Black also putting one over the bar and a Harvey Smith header drifting off-target.
Drew Kear then almost took advantage of a defensive mix-up with an attempted lob from distance over a seemingly-stranded Bunn, but the keeper managed to recover in time to gather the ball.
Recci's low effort from distance was well-saved by Bunn, before the home side's early dynamism paid dividends when Carter seized upon a long throw to spin quickly in the box and fire one past Hill.
Town took a while to regain the initiative, although Seal could possibly have done better with his strike just inside the penalty area after a neat move involving Marsden and Kear.
With the half-time whistle approaching, Kolodynski again tested Bunn with a decent low shot but once more the keeper pulled off a good stop. Rugby started the new period with renewed vigour though, and Liam Francis was soon glancing a header the wrong side of the post.
The equaliser arrived on 55 minutes after Valley had broken quickly, with Dan Summerfield's nicely weighted first-time cross finding Kolodynski at the back post - who duly volleyed a good finish into the bottom corner of the net.
The introduction of Madundo Semahimbo for his first action of the season gave Town further impetus, and the substitute almost made an immediate impact when he beat a number of defenders out wide before teeing up Caine Elliott for an off-target effort.
Marsden was denied by another Bunn save after Kolodynski had played him in with a sharply taken free-kick, before Recci struck the decisive goal with just eight minutes of normal time remaining when he scored from close range after Seal's corner had found him at the far post.
There was one late scare for Rugby though, when Josh Sarmento ghosted in from the right after a scrappy build-up by the hosts, but his strike was tipped over the bar by Hill to confirm the win.
Valley Line-up: Hill; Rosser, Francis, Recci; Kear (Semahimbo), Summerfield, Fitzharris, Elliott, Seal; Marsden, Kolodynski. Subs not used: Bodycote, English, Seymour, Ahenkorah, Thomas. Booked: Elliott.
Studley line-up: Bunn, Black, M.Edwards, Donnelly, Welsh, Cresswell, D.Edwards, Ashby, Carter, Blowers, Smith. Subs: Hawkins, Bloomer, Sarmento, Taylor, McQuaid, Tellyn, Birch. |