GRANT Joshua branded Rugby Town’s most recent victory against Loughborough Students as his ‘most pleasing win’ as Valley boss.
Valley battled to a 1-0 home win against Loughborough at Butlin Road to stretch their unbeaten run to five matches.
The run has lifted Rugby clear of the Northern Premier League Midlands relegation zone.
However, Joshua stressed his side needs to be more clinical in front of goal after wasting a number of chances in the win against Loughborough.
Joshua said: “It’s maybe my most pleasing win as manager for a few reasons really.
“Our out-of-possession work proved what I already knew – we’re a very fit side, and we had to be, because ours is a big pitch and they have patterns and rotations that are tough to live with if you’re not physically up to it.
“Although Loughborough had most of the of the ball, we had all of the chances. We showed our counter-attacking qualities and should have been more clinical.
“That’s the message to my forward players. Kill teams off when the opportunities present themselves.
“Still, I was really pleased with how we got into those areas. We looked a side who could do both.”
Rugby have now recorded three successive clean sheets in wins against Sutton Coldfield Town, Coventry Sphinx and Loughborough.
And Joshua praised the collective effort of his players to keep the ball out of the net.
Joshua added: “That’s not just Marcus [Bald] and the boys at the back.
“It’s a collective. My first defenders have been Rivel [Mardenborough], Harrison [Nee] and Cairo [Taylor] recently, so I’m delighted for all of them to achieve that as a team.”
Rugby are next in action against Long Eaton United on Saturday, November 1 with kick-off at 3pm at Grange Park.
