RUGBY Town make the short trip across the Leicestershire border to take on Kirby Muxloe as they look to end a run of three away games without a win.
Last weekend’s 4-1 home success over Wellingborough Whitworth meant Town pulled themselves back up to third place in the United Counties Premier table, still headed by Daventry Town whose excellent start to the campaign continued with a 2-1 win at Oadby.
The gap between the local rivals is therefore still six points but Valley do have a game in hand.
Currently sandwiched in between Rugby and Daventry in second are Pinchbeck who are a point ahead of Carl Adams’ team and Town are scheduled to visit the Lincolnshire village club in a fortnight’s time.
The Whitworth victory came as a result of an improved second half performance which saw Town kick on from the 1-1 half-time state of parity to score three quick-fire goals.
Valley’s leading scorer Danico Johnson grabbed his fourth hat-trick of the season in the process and the striker, who signed for Adams in the summer, continues to attract attention of clubs higher up the non-League pyramid.
Northern League Premier outfit Hednesford Town are the latest club believed to have put in an official approach for the player who has scored ten goals in his nine league outings for Town, with a total of 16 in 16 competitive games.
Until now, Johnson has decided to stay put, with Adams successfully promoting the potential benefits of a period of stability to a player whose career previously had seen him move around regularly on the Midlands football scene.
Another Rugby man in a rich vein of scoring form is Lewis Rankin, with the one-time Coventry City academy prospect on target for a fifth league game on the trot against Wellingborough on Saturday.
Within that impressive run, Rankin has scored late goals to earn a draw and a win in Town’s last two away league fixtures and Adams will be hoping that it is less heavy going on the road this weekend than in recent weeks, with cup defeats at Boldmere and Redditch featuring alongside the dropping of valuable points in the league at Desborough.
Saturday’s hosts were promoted to this level in 2009, before subsequently being transferred into the UCL structure in 2015.
They finished in 12th place in this division at the end of the 2017/18 term and currently sit 14th following their 3-1 home victory over Boston.
In addition to long-term leg-break absentee Lee Thomas, Adams will continue to be without the injured Richard Bunting and the unavailable Romario Martin who is away on St Kitts & Nevis U20 international duty.
The Valley boss is continuing his search to bolster his squad with a number of seven-day approaches of his own, so there may be a new face or two on show for Town at Ratby Lane on Saturday.
