FOOTBALL: VALLEY recorded a comfortable regional cup victory against their MFL rivals at the CKW Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The four goal success included first ever club strikes at senior level for both Harry Holloway and Sean Castleton, as Town earnt a home tie in the next round against Walsall.
There were five changes to Rugby’s starting line-up from the weekend defeat at Bromsgrove against a youthful-looking Wulfs’ line-up that had also rung the changes with only three starters from their last outing.
Holloway gave Valley an eighteenth minute lead when his shot from distance took a deflection before beating home keeper Joe Morris.
Niall Cooper made one decent save to deny Callum Parker, but it was a rare moment of threat from the home side, and Ruben Wiggins-Thomas was soon breaking free through the middle at the other end – only to see his shot kept out by the legs of Morris.
Castleton made it two when he powered home Josh Ruff’s corner with his head on forty minutes, and then Tevin Shakespeare gave the visitors an even bigger half-time advantage with a deft chipped finish over Morris after he too had broken through the middle of the home defence.
It was a generally quiet affair after the restart, although Mitch Evans did go close for the home side, and both Wiggins-Thomas and Shakespeare put in off-target efforts.
Fabian Smith grabbed Rugby’s fourth with four minutes of normal time remaining when he finished off a Wiggins-Thomas squared cross.
