Rugby Town 1, Bromsgrove Sporting 0

IT was a case of what might have been as Bromsgrove Sporting were knocked out of the FA Cup preliminary by Northern Premier League First Division South side Rugby Town on Saturday.

Against a side two levels above them in Warwickshire, the Rouslers more than held their own and could have caused an upset if they had taken their chances.

Aaron Roberts, playing in midfield for Sporting, had the first real effort on 15 minutes but shot straight at Rugby keeper Louis Connor.

Chris Jay between the Sporting sticks was only really called in action once in the half picking the ball up from Aiden Print's feet before he could shoot.

At the other end later on both Sean Brain and Chris Lloyd got into good positions but missed the target by a country mile.

Both teams upped the tempo after the interval but had to cope with more difficult conditions as the swirling wind played its part.

Lloyd blasted over on the 53rd minute for the visitors, then dropping a shot on to the roof of the net a few minutes later.

When he did finally get a good shot on target he found Connor in brilliant form making a one-handed save.

Substitute Tony Clarke hit the bar then saw the re-bound from Brain desperately cleared off the line.

Despite home side having few opportunities, they took the lead in the 82nd minute. Jay had got a hand to Daryll Thomas's pull back but striker David Kolodynski scored from close range.

Sporting worked hard looking for the equaliser with the excellent Ahmed Ali spraying accurate passes around to break the Rugby but the hosts remained held on to book a qualifying round clash against Corby Town.

Sporting: Jay, Roberts, Wilson, Morris, Willcox, Edwards (Edwards, 87), Tibbetts (Clark, 61), Bunn, Ali, Lloyd (Conway, 70), Brain.

Substitutes not used: Nwosu, Kelly, Leech, Kemp.

Rugby: Connor, Print, Fox, Lee, Tank, Hall (Thomas, 58), Belcher (Jepson, 70), Gooding, Lavery, Woolley, Kolodynski (Bolton, 84).

Substitutes not used: Yussef, Heath.

Referee: Mr K Hughes Attendance: 228 Sporting man of the match: Ahmed Ali