RUGBY Town travel to Cogenhoe United on Saturday looking to extend their unbeaten United Counties Premier run to ten matches.
Valley’s 2-1 victory over Rothwell Corinthians last Saturday meant it is now 25 points out of the last available 27 for Carl Adams’ men.
They also preserved their unblemished Butlin Road league record this season in the process.
However, their latest success was undoubtedly the least convincing of their seven home league wins to date, with the visitors working hard to frustrate Town.
Goals from Richard Blythe and Charlie Evans saw Rugby home in the end, though, and Adams will be hoping for a more fluent performance when they travel to the village of Cogenhoe, just south of Northampton, this weekend.
Cogenhoe were reformed in 1967 after having previously folded in the 1950s and they first entered the United Counties structure in 1985.
They finished in eighth place last season, with their best performances in the league coming around the turn of the century when they recorded runners-up spots in both the 1999/2000 and 2000/01 campaigns before managing to win the Premier Division in 2004/05.
Saturday’s game had originally been postponed due to the hosts’ continued participation in the FA Vase but United were then thrown out of the competition after being found to have fielded ineligible players in their victory in the previous round against Leighton.
Valley will have to be on their guard on Saturday, though, as Cogenhoe come into the game on the back of a four-game winning streak of their own and last weekend’s 3-1 success over Peterborough Northern Star lifted them up to sixth place in the table.
Rugby’s victory over Rothwell cut the gap between them and Daventry at the top to seven points after their local rivals could only draw 2-2 at home to Desborough.
Town have played two less games than the current leaders and they enjoy a five-point advantage over currently third-placed incumbents Deeping, who visit Butlin Road the following Saturday.
Following on from the Deeping clash, Valley then face back-to-back away fixtures at Newport Pagnell and Wellingborough Town on the December 15 and December 22 respectively.
They are then due to play three successive home games over the Christmas and New Year period against Daventry (December 26), Oadby (December 29) and Leicester Nirvana (January 5).
Rugby’s Dom Perkins will be available this weekend having served his one-match suspension for totting up five bookings in the league, with top scorer Danico Johnson also free to play at Cogenhoe.
His booking against Rothwell was only his fourth in UCL competitions, with the other coming in the FA Vase clash at Boldmere.
