Nine-man Rugby Town put in a heroic defensive display to take a point away at Corby Town.
The match had looked finely poised after the returning Michael Taylor levelled up the hosts' opening goal, but the questionable dismissals of first Chris Clements and then keeper Matt Hill within a few minutes towards the end of the opening period set the scene for a memorable battling effort from Valley.
Town boss Carl Adams had included David Kolodynski in his starting line-up after missing two matches with a hamstring injury, with Hill making his farewell game for the club due to the enforced absence of first-choice keeper Tomasz Bukowski as part of the agreement that had brought the Pole to Rugby from Corby.
Taylor replaced the injured Madundo Semahimbo, after the experienced striker had signed from Alvechurch ahead of the game.
Valley started brightly in the Northamptonshire sun, with Jordan Wilson just unable to get a shot off after a promising move, and then Ryan Sahota seeing his low ball across the box cut out.
Hill did then gather a tame effort from 25 yards by Danny Gordon, before Kolodynksi put a speculative strike from distance off-target.
Corby's Joe Butterworth's volley was deflected wide and Loyiso Recci did well to head clear Connor Tomlinson's goal-bound attempt, before the deadlock was broken on sixteen minutes when Gordon's delivery into the box took a fortuitous deflection before dropping kindly at the back post for Steelmen skipper Michael Jacklin to head home.
A neatly-struck effort from Kolodynski drifted just wide after Taylor had done well to get in behind the home back-line, with both Taylor and Kolodynski then both having efforts blocked away in the same passage of play.
Sahota also guided one just the wrong side of the upright as the visitors continued to probe for an equaliser, which deservedly came on 26 minutes when Taylor rose highest to head home a floated Clements' free-kick.
Taylor nearly grabbed another shortly after, but his second touch to a long ball forward let him down for once and home keeper Dan Wallis was able to smother the ball from him.
Another burst forward from the increasingly-impactful Taylor saw him fire one over from a tight angle, whilst at the other end Jacklin also cleared the bar, with Jack Keeble's header suffering the same fate soon after.
However, the dynamics of the game changed on 40 minutes when referee Ian Ruddock adjudged that Clements's contact to Keeble when challenging for an aerial ball constituted excessive force/brutality and therefore warranted a straight red card.
Things got worse for Rugby three minutes later when Hill charged out of his box to needlessly deal with a long ball forward and somehow managed to handle it in the process.
Despite the presence of Recci as a covering defender, referee Ruddock again brandished a red in the face of a Town player and Hill joined Clements down the tunnel - with leading scorer Wilson forced to take over the gloves for the remainder of the game.
What followed thereafter was a combination of how not to take advantage of numerical supremacy from the hosts alongside an excellently organised defensive effort from Rugby, with the visitors more often than not restricting Corby to hopeful pot-shots and unthreatening crosses into the Valley box.
Tomlinson did hit a post just ahead of the interval though, and Gordon poked one wide of both Wilson and the frame shortly after the restart.
Town's stand-in keeper confidently grew into the unfamiliar role though, and after both Jordan O'Brien and Gordon had seen their shots solidly blocked away, Wilson made a decent reaction parried save to deny Butterworth and another one to push O'Brien's strike over the bar.
Taylor did fire a free-kick into the defensive wall from a central position after a rare Rugby foray forward, with Sahota then having a shot blocked from another one - with Taylor showing good strength and power in creating this opportunity for his team-mate.
A couple of harmless efforts late-on from Tomlinson - which both were way off-target - summed up the hosts' afternoon and also ensured Valley were ultimately rewarded for their spirited short-handed endeavours for what was nearly an hour of game play.
Valley
Line-up: Hill; Thomas (Kear), Summerfield, Recci, Francis; Fitzharris, Clements, Sahota; Wilson, Kolodynski (O'Sullivan), Taylor. Subs not used: Campbell, Lee, Mace. Bookings: O'Sullivan. Sent off: Clements, Hill.
