RUGBY TOWN: Fairest players in December

Rugby Town’s fine footballing form on the pitch last month was matched by their disciplinary performance on it, with the club coming top of December’s Evo-Stik NPL South Division Fair Play Award chart.

Back-to-back wins against Market Drayton, Daventry and Basford lifted Dale Belford’s side away from the danger of the division’s relegation zone, but this was achieved at a cost of only two bookings in the month.

League representative John Goddard was on-hand to present Town’s Secretary Doug Wilkins with a bottle of champagne and a certificate to mark the award ahead of Rugby’s last home game against Loughborough Dynamo a fortnight ago.

Belford reflected on the achievement: “We’re delighted to win it and I am immensely proud for the lads. In my experience, success on the pitch doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with the winning of these awards – especially with a team that has had to scrap for points in the bottom half of the table all season to-date.”

He continued: “It just goes to show what a nice group of people that we have in the squad at the moment, and that they have been able to perform well whilst also conducting themselves to such high standards too.”

Town’s players have yet to receive a red card all season in all competitions, and their fair play prowess is further underlined in the Non-League Paper’s Fair Play Table which sees them in third place overall in the country for the 276 clubs currently playing in Steps 1 – 4 of the non-league pyramid.

Only Northwich Victoria and New Mills (both of the NPL North Division) are ahead of Valley in the latest listings, with Conference North Worcester City currently at its foot.