Massiah McDonald scored the only goal of the game on his home debut as a superb rearguard action from Valley secured the three points against Harborough Town at Butlin Road.
Valley's goal led something of a charmed life particularly in the first half as Harborough pressed for a goal but it was Rugby who won the day thanks to McDonald's first-half strike.
Town's starting line-up showed three changes from the creditable defeat at Sporting Khalsa earlier in the Bank Holiday weekend, with Roger Lee back from suspension in Rugby's midfield and Loyiso Recci and Liam Francis replacing Edwin Ahenkorah and Dan Summerfield in the back-line.
The first opportunity of the game actually fell to Valley, when Recci's looping delivery saw the visitors' keeper Elliott Taylor just claim the ball ahead of Ryan Sahota.
However from then on, Harborough took control and Connor Kennedy was soon dragging one wide after Rhys Hoenes had got in behind the Town defence.
Rugby keeper Matt Hill then palmed away an Alex Morris header at the back post, with another high ball into the box seeing Hill again parry Morris's headed attempt and Dodzi Agbenu heading the rebound onto the bar.
Lee did have a low shot that was comfortably blocked, before the experienced Lee Tomlin also struck the woodwork with an exquisite curling effort from twenty yards, after The Bees had broken upfield swiftly.
As a better period for Rugby commenced, Rico Taylor nearly slipped in Sahota, although at the other end Hill was off his line well to deny Johnson Gyames.
The game's ultimately decisive moment came after 22 minutes, when Morris played a poor back-pass in the direction of Taylor for McDonald to take advantage of this and nip in to expertly guide the ball home through the keeper's legs.
An adventurous volley from Sahota shortly after the goal was easily gathered by Taylor, but with Harborough pressing hard for an equaliser, Josh Walsh almost capitalised on a short corner routine and Tomlin's strike into the ground was taken by Hill.
McDonald had a further effort blocked, with the final chance of the half seeing Dodzi Agbeni also have the pace of his strike reduced by the pitch as he bump-balled his shot straight at Hill.
Burke lifted one way over shortly after the restart, with Gyames then clipping the top of the bar and Agbenu's strike deflected away for a corner amid shouts by the visitors for a handball in the penalty area.
Generally Harborough offered a diminishing threat as the second half progressed though, with the hosts themselves carving out a number of half chances of their own as confidence in the prospect of a hard-fought for victory grew.
Jordan Wilson had a shot blocked away after a Lee free-kick, with Sahota's effort suffering a similar fate and a threatening run into the box from the same player only just halted by a Harborough defender, and McDonald also shot over from the edge of the box.
Substitute Paul Malone did threaten three times with headers in the remaining portion of the game, although only one of these was on-target and Hill was able to deal with this easily.
Francis also cleared Agbenu's effort away from the goal-line late-on, but the hosts' stoic defensive display meant they held out to the end.
Valley
Line-up: Hill; Burke (Summerfield), Francis, Rosser; Recci, Thomas (English), Lee, Fitzharris, Taylor (Wilson); Sahota, McDonald. Subs not used: Lock, Ahenkorah. Bookings: McDonald, Taylor.
