Lye Town centre-back Adam Meacham scored a hat-trick as Rugby Town's return to league action for the first time in nearly four weeks ended in defeat.
It was a poor showing from Valley, particularly in the first half, but it was the hosts' aerial prowess from set pieces that proved to be the difference.
Rugby's starting line-up showed five changes from the previous outing in the FA Trophy against Grantham, with returns to the opening eleven for Josh Thomas, Drew Kear, Alex Lock, Massiah McDonald and Edwin Ahenkorah.
There were one or two bright early moments from the visitors, although it was Lye that looked the more threatening proposition with Ben Billingham curling a free-kick into the wall and Joe Palmer sending in a dangerous low cross that was just out of the reach of his team-mates.
Meacham's first of the afternoon came on 16 minutes when he scored with a straightforward header at close quarters, after Town had failed to clear a long-throw from the left properly.
Billingham's strike from the edge of the area then flew just over the bar, as the hosts' early superiority continued, although at the other end Valley saw a decent appeal for a penalty waived away after Kear's promising dart along the by-line ended with him on the ground.
Another half-chance fell the visitors' way when Ahenkorah slipped over as it looked like he could possibly take advantage of a misplaced defensive back-flicked header.
However, Billingham continued to cause Rugby problems with his dead-ball delivery, with a long-range free-kick clipping the base of Matt Hill's post ahead of two killer blows from the home side on the stroke of half-time which both originated from Billingham's boot.
First, his inswinging free-kick was again met by the head of Meacham to double the Lye lead, and then a corner to the back-post was finished off at close range by Sam Hall to make it three at the interval.
The hosts nearly extended their advantage shortly after the restart, but Keenah Rosser did well to block away Palmer's cut-back, with an unmarked Meacham heading another one over and Matthew Funge also dragging one off-target from an angled position.
A well-executed scissor-kick on the turn by Ahenkorah did finally test Lye keeper Joshua Bishop as Town looked to launch an unlikely comeback, but any feint hopes of this were extinguished on the hour mark when Meacham completed his treble by scoring again from a couple of yards out after Hill had saved an initial effort by Ryan Bridgewater - with Billingham again the provider from a dead-ball situation.
Kear's low shot from the edge of the area was gathered by Bishop after a rare misguided header by Meacham had inadvertently given Rugby the chance to counter quickly, but Lye continued to create good opportunities of their own too, with Samson Hewett heading one wide of the post.
Town's performance had shown signs of improvement as the half had progressed though, and with the home side now seemingly secure in their victory, Rugby put together their best spell of the encounter in search of some form of consolation.
McDonald was just unable to get a shot off to a low cross from Loyiso Recci, and Ahenkorah suffered a similar fate when the ball fell to him in the box.
Valley's first strike came after Roger Lee's powerful run forward ended with a save to his shot from Bishop, with McDonald finishing off the rebound at the second attempt.
Ahenkorah's shot on the turn then struck the upright and Recci headed one straight at Bishop, before Rugby scored again with the final attacking play of the game, when another Lee surge ended with Kear adeptly stroking one into the bottom corner.
