RUGBY Town’s promotion prospects took a huge dent this week with the departure of ace marksman David Kolodynski to division rivals Kettering.
Kolodynski is leaving for the current league leaders, just as Valley had pulled themselves within touching distance of the play-offs following Saturday’s 3-2 victory at Aylesbury United.
The striker’s second spell at Butlin Road has brought him goals galore – with the double in the recent League Cup tie against Redditch now taking his tally in all competitions to 150.
And despite appearing to commit himself to the club for the 2014/15 campaign in the summer, the home-grown forward has decided to accept the package on offer from the Northamptonshire club, after the Poppies put in a seven day approach for him last week.
Valley boss Dave Stringer was obviously disappointed to be losing his main source of goals, but called on the rest of his squad to rally round and fill the void.
He said: “It clearly will be a big miss for us and it would be the same for any club in this situation, but we have to move on from it quickly.
“We have been lucky to have had Kolo and his goals for the last couple of years or so, but everyone has to muck in now and try and replace him and them.
“We’ve got a few irons in the fire in terms of bringing in a new striker, but it’s bound to be a difficult process to find the right player who is both available and affordable.”
Stringer’s attacking options were further diminished during last Saturday’s 3-2 success, a fourth in five league matches for Town, when Seb Lake-Gaskin limped off after just nine minutes on his return from an ankle injury.
The manager ruled Lake-Gaskin out of this Saturday’s home clash with Leighton Town and in-forms striker Justin Marsden is also a doubt after picking up a bruised achilles at Aylesbury.
And after the departure of Kolodynski, the absence of the injured Lake-Gaskin and with Lewis McBride also unavailable for Saturday, Stringer is hoping that he can bring at least one new face in ahead of kick-off.
He added: “It’s a blow to be missing so many key players, but these kind of things happen at every club – so we need to pull together.
“Our performances have picked up over the past month – both individually and collectively, apart from the fact that we’re still giving away far too many soft goals.
“We’ve slightly changed our shape and the way we are playing, and it seems to have worked overall. This change has been dictated by the make-up of the squad we have at the moment, and we have been back to playing some decent football again as a result.”
Goalscorer David Kolodynski. Photo by Martin Pulley. (s)
