RUGBY Town exited the FA Cup at the Second Round Qualifying stage following a 4-1 defeat at Hednesford Town in a replay.
Valley scored a late consolation through Mikey Taylor after a brace from Manny Duku and further goals from Elliott Johnson and Rob Stevenson took the game out of Rugby’s reach at Keys Park.
The two teams played out a 2-2 draw at Butlin Road last weekend to set up a replay.
Hednesford threatened to break the deadlock on a number of occasions in the first half before Johnson finished from six-yards out on 24 minutes after Rugby failed to clear their lines at a corner.
Valley goalkeeper Paul Hathaway made several saves to keep the visitors in the game with Rugby fortunate to head into the break only a goal behind.
However, the Pitmen doubled their lead six minutes after the interval as Duku rounded Hathaway before finishing into an empty net after Dom McHale pounced on Trey Charles’ misplaced pass.
Hednesford sealed their place in the next round on 62 minutes when Duku volleyed the ball into the ground and past Hathaway from close range to score his fourth goal across the two fixtures.
And substitutes Stevenson and Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen combined to stretch the home side’s lead with 10 minutes left to play as the former finished the latter’s low cross from eight-yards out.
Valley scored a consolation goal on 85 minutes when Taylor chested down Edwin Ahenkorah’s pass before twisting and turning away from a number of Hednesford defenders and firing a low shot into the corner from just inside the penalty area.
Rugby are next in action against Boldmere St. Michaels on Saturday, September 21 with kick-off at 3pm at Butlin Road.
