Rugby fell at the first hurdle of the FA Trophy for the fifth season in succession on rare Sunday outing for the club.

Ryan Walker returned from injury to occupy the right-back berth in place of Roger Lee in the only change from the victory at Carlton, and both teams started brightly in the Cambridgeshire sunshine.

The home side created the first chance of the game when Stuart Eason chipped one narrowly over from fifteen yards, before Valley took the lead when Kevin Thornton found Callum Powell in a central position – with Powell’s subsequent pass then deflected into the path of David Kolodynski, who fired home with an instinctive finish from ten yards.

Danny Watson’s attempted lob nearly levelled things up, although Kolodynski almost grabbed his second at the other end when heading wide a whipped Thornton free-kick, whilst Jake Healy also went close with a decent chance.

Two St.Ives goals within four minutes turned the game on its head though, with first Jack Higgs somehow deceiving Raajan Gill in the Rugby goal with a curling free-kick from twenty five yards and then Eason powering home a header to Ben Seymour-Shove’s corner on 36 minutes.

However Rugby did show some promise ahead of the half-time whistle, with Powell getting in behind the defence on a couple of occasions and then home keeper Tim Trebes doing well to smother Rob Parker’s effort.

The visitors were also unlucky not to get a penalty after Healy went to ground in the box.

Two further strikes from the hosts after the restart put the tie out of Valley’s reach, with Gill again at fault when he was unable to gather a bobbling strike by Watson, before Charlie Death made it four with a diving header to another Seymour-Shove delivery to the near post.

In between these two goals, Rugby had had another decent shout for a spot-kick turned down when a St.Ives defender looked to have handled debuting substitute Ash Gray’s effort.

With a minute of normal time remaining, Thornton reduced the arrears when he jinked into the box to apply a neat finish into the corner past Trebes.

Steve Towers just failed to force one home from close range, before the same player then headed Lee’s cross just wide of the target, as Valley ended the game with a late flurry.

Valley Line-up: Gill; Walker (Lee), Warburton, Rowley, Towers; Healy (Smith), Clifton (Gray), Parker, Thornton; Kolodynski, Powell. Subs not used: Brooks, Woods. Booked: Gray, Gill, Thornton

St Ives Line-up: Trebes, O’Malley, Jarrold, Death, Moyes, Knight, Seymour-Shove (Sinclair), Higgs, Eason, Watson, Draycott. Subs: Sinclair, Warwick, Simons, Gentle, Clark.