RUGBY TOWN: High-scoring Valley hope to make it three home wins in a row

Goalkeeper Matt Hill punches clear in last weekend's 7-1 win over Wellingborough

Rugby Town face a third consecutive home game this Saturday when Harborough are the visitors to Butlin Road, and they will be looking to make it a treble of wins following their 7-1 victory over Wellingborough last weekend.

The hammering of the Doughboys’ came a fortnight on from a 4-1 success over Kirby Muxloe, with Carl Adams’s men appearing to have found their form again after a patchy turn of the year.

Rugby's Star Man on Saturday hat-trick hero Charlie Evans, who scored three times in six minutes Pictures by Martin Pulley

Town striker Charlie Evans grabbed himself a second hat-trick of the season at the weekend, as Rugby recorded their biggest win since September 2013 when a Dave Stringer side thrashed Chertsey 8-1 at Butlin Road.

Lewis Rankin was on-target again against Wellingborough - scoring a goal that pushes him ahead of the now-departed Danico Johnson at the top of Town’s UCL Premier Division goal chart.

Rankin netted his 15th of the season with Rugby’s second, although Johnson’s additional goals in other competitions still make him the club’s leading scorer on 20.

Saturday’s visitors Harborough also come into the game with a two-game winning streak behind them, after they edged a nine-goal thriller on Tuesday evening against Leicester Nirvana on the back of their 1-0 victory at Sleaford at the weekend.

The two sides met earlier in the season in the Preliminary Round of the League Cup, when Valley returned to Warwickshire with a 4-1 win thanks a Johnson hat-trick and a Romario Martin strike.

Harborough were founded in 1975 as a junior set-up, before merging with senior team Spencer United in 2008 - working their way up the non-league pyramid to get promoted into this level in 2012.

At the same time as Town were romping to victory, their two rivals at the top of the table - Daventry and Deeping - were also bagging three points against Cogenhoe and Oadby respectively.

Deeping’s subsequent midweek win over Desborough cut the gap between them and Daventry to four points, with Valley a further six points adrift of Rangers - with a game in hand over both of the top two.

Rugby are due to play that game next Tuesday (February 19) when they travel to struggling Rothwell Corinthians for a rearranged fixture.

Rothwell did well to record only their third win of the league campaign against sixth placed Eynesbury last Saturday, but they still remain in 18th place in the table - just four points ahead of the relegation zone.

Daventry host mid-table Nirvana this weekend, whilst Deeping face a tricky match at Pinchbeck - a side who started the UCL season looking likely contenders until dropping off a little of late.The Rothwell fixture marks the first of three successive away games for Town, with a trip to Deeping on Saturday (23rd February) and one to Wellingborough Whitworth scheduled a week later.

# The club coach to Rothwell will leave Butlin Road at 5.30 p.m. For latest information, contact Tony Mann on 07970 691366.

# Coincidentally Rugby’s first ever game against Wellingborough 36 years ago also ended with a 7-1 victory for them at Butlin Road, with Derek Owen (2), Ian Crawley, John Setchell, Rob McKay, Dave Ingram and Danny Conway on target for the hosts.