Despite a spirited recovery, Rugby Town could not fully recover after a disastrous start at in-form Sutton Coldfield Town.

In the final match before Christmas, there was plenty of festive goal action as the hosts raced into a four-goal lead by the half-hour mark with Rugby then clawing their way back into the game with three of their own, before nearly snatching an equaliser at the death.

New signing Tomasz Bukowski made his Valley debut in goal as one of four changes from the previous weekend's home defeat to Quorn. Loyiso Recci, Drew Kear and Barry Fitzharris also returned to the starting line-up as Town looked to bring their run of five straight defeats in all competitions to an end.

It certainly was a baptism of fire for Town's new man between the sticks and he was picking the ball out of the net with only thirty seconds on the clock, after the hosts scored straight from the kick-off when Rhys Hilton glided past a couple of Rugby defenders before slotting home.

Sutton striker James Tague fired one just over the bar from distance, before Hilton struck again on six minutes - leaving Bukowski motionless in response to his shot from the edge of the box, after once more the Town defence failed to apply any pressure to the man in possession.

It was soon three when Kyle Byrne drilled in despite the best efforts of Dan Summerfield to clear, after the Royals' wide man had cut in from the left.

The pain continued for Town when the hosts found the net again, but fortunately this time the goal was ruled out by an offside flag, with Pedro Lima subsequently having a volley saved by Bukowski and Hilton hitting a post.

Rugby's first sight of the target then came when Chris Clements's low free-kick was securely gathered by Jonathan Brown.

Lima guided one wide as the status quo returned, with Bulowski then pulling off a good save to deny Tague after he had been complicit in creating the opportunity after poor communication between him and Josh Thomas.

Further sloppy passing at the back from Rugby saw Tague hit the post and when the same thing happened for a third time, Tague took full advantage and stretched the lead further with a strike into the bottom corner.

Despite the awful start, the response from Carl Adams's side was to be commended, and Fitzharris struck one over the bar shortly after conceding the fourth.

Liam Francis pulled one back on 35 minutes when he headed home Clements's set-piece delivery, before David Kolodynski broke his recent scoring drought when he capitalised on defensive uncertainty to nip in on Josh Thomas's long ball and flick the ball over Brown to make it 4-2 at half-time.

After the six-goal blitz that had preceded it, the second half was somewhat less eventful, as both sides struggled to fashion any end product to their play.

Tague did send a wind-assisted long ranger over the frame in a rare strike at goal, before the deficit was reduced to a single goal on 82 minutes when Justice Campbell did well to create an opening for fellow sub Madundo Semahimbo to drive into the box and send a low shot into the bottom corner.

Valley carved out two opportunities to grab what would have been an astounding, late leveller, with Recci heading over a flighted delivery from Thomas, and then Brown pulled off a top drawer to deny Francis his second of the afternoon, when he tipped wide the veteran's leaping header.

Valley Line-up: Bukowski; Thomas, Recci, Francis; Kear (Semahimbo), Summerfield, Fitzharris, Sahota (Campbell), Clements; Kolodynski (Obeng), Wilson. Subs not used: Lee, Mace. Bookings: Summerfield.

Sutton Line-up: Brown, Christophorou, Carter-Byrne, Lima, Beresford, Doyle, Burgess, Collins, Tague, Hilton, Byrne. Subs: McSkeane, Antonio, Birch, Philip.