Town dug deep to ensure the short journey home from Coventry was a happy one after they recorded their second league win within the three opening days of the season.
David Kolodynski netted just past the hour mark with the only goal of the game against a fancied Sphinx outfit to make it a perfect start to the 2022/23 campaign for Valley.
Rugby boss Carl Adams made one change to the team that had started against Cogenhoe, with Edwin Ahenkorah in for Justin Marsden, and in the opening minutes he almost made something of a Luke English long throw as part of a bright start from the visitors.
English then headed Ryan Seal's corner over the bar, before the right wing-back turned provider again himself when his low, dangerous cross was just cut out by a home defender.
Coventry keeper Scott Martin saved Dan Summerfield's low strike as Valley continued to press, with the hosts' best chance coming in the final few minutes of the half when Keenah Rosser made a good clearance at the back-post after Callum Martin had found space down the left hand side.
An early chance after the restart again saw Summerfield denied from distance, although Coventry then could have easily opened the scoring themselves when Matty Shipman's attempted lob was thwarted by Matt Hill with the visitors looking for an offside flag.
Caine Elliott's curling effort nearly broke the deadlock, but the fingertips of Martin turned the ball around the post for a corner.
However the travelling Valley faithful did not have to wait much longer for a goal, after Seal's initial free-kick was only half cleared and was played back in by Summerfield onto the head of Loyiso Recci at the back-post, with the Town skipper nodding the ball onto Kolodynski - who applied a decent first touch before firing his snapshot home.
A period of heavy pressure followed from the hosts, and within this ex-Town academy man Mason Platts nodded one at Hill and Louis Guest glanced a further header wide.
Summerfield did find the side netting with a shot though, whilst Hill blocked a low shot from Shipman with his legs and Guest missed out again with his head after a quick Sphinx corner routine.
Seal missed out on an opportunity of doubling the margin of victory near the end when a well-worked move involving at least four of his team mates ended with his strike being marginally deflected over the target.
Valley Line-up: Hill; Rosser, Thomas, Recci; English (Francis), Summerfield, Fitzharris, Elliott, Seal; Ahenkorah (Kear), Kolodynski. Subs not used: Lock, Seymour, Bodycote. Booked: None.
Coventry line-up: S.Martin, Draper, C.Martin, J.Downes, Guest, Bryson, Whiteside, Woodward, Shipman, L.Downes, Stewart. Subs: Francis, Platts, Billing, Fraser, Walke. |