Rugby Town's Emirates FA Cup run came to a comprehensive end against Hednesford Town in the Second Round Qualifying Replay at Keys Park.
The hosts dominated from start to finish to seal a place in the Third Round Qualifying Round away at Shifnal Town, and in truth the margin of victory could have been greater.
Town boss Carl Adams made one change to the starting line-up that had earned themselves a creditable draw in the original tie three days earlier, with Mike Taylor preferred to Tayo Tucker.
Valley's Paul Hathaway certainly had a busy evening between the sticks, and he was soon in action when keeping out Jack Bearne's close range header after Dominic McHale had headed the ball down to him.
Trey Charles did then send in a cross which almost reached Taylor at the back post, but Kory Roberts was there just in front of him - however this was a rare first-half attacking highlight for Town.
The visitors were all too often guilty of surrendering possession cheaply, and opportunities to register the opening goal came thick and fast for Hednesford.
A Duku header was deflected marginally over for a corner, Jake Jervis somehow missed the target with his stooping header and then Hathaway did well to claim Joel Taylor's dangerous cross with Jervis poised to connect again.
McHale's low shot skipped up off the immaculate surface to draw another decent stop from Hathaway, with Bearne's trickery down the right almost carving out another good chance for the hosts after that.
The inevitable happened on 24 minutes when Rugby failed to clear a corner properly, and Liam Francis's block in the box fell to home captain Elliott Johnson to make no mistake from six yards.
Duku lifted one way over the frame after Bearne had picked him out, as Hednesford pushed on for a quickfire second, with McHale denied by a neat stop from Hathaway after Ryan Sahota had given the ball away in a dangerous position.
Rugby did then create a couple of chances though, with Dan Summerfield's cross from the right met by Charles at the back post - but his initial header was blocked before he wildly blazed his follow-up effort across the pitch.
A further strike from Charles from the edge of the box dribbled harmlessly wide, before the Pitmen went close again when Bearne skipped in behind Town's defence only to find Hathaway once more in good form by saving his low effort.
The first half endee on a fractious note though when a high, late tackle by McHale on Sahota was only punished by a yellow card by a blind-sided referee.
Having received a relative onslaught before the interval, Rugby actually started the new period in more encouraging fashion - with Taylor's snapshot on the turn going wide after Harrison Nee had headed the ball onto him.
However, six minutes after the restart Charles's misplaced pass on the halfway line was pounced on by McHale, and he threaded a pass for Duku to round Hathaway before tucking into the vacant net.
Taylor did head a Summerfield cross wide, before Hednesford made it three after Hathaway could only parry shots by Bearne and Dan Trickett-Smith with the ball landing for Duku to claim his fourth goal in the two games with a close-range angled volley into the ground which bounced home - despite Francis's attempted goal-line clearance.
It was nearly four straight away but Duku missed out on a hat-trick when steering one wide after sub Chris Clements had been dispossessed.
Rugby valiantly looked to pull one back though, and Mike McGrath was inches off converting a Charles free-kick into the box and then Summerfield saw his well-struck effort blocked away.
Taylor's low shot was saved by Jack Rose, before Hednesford extended their lead further when subs Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen and Rob Stevenson combined well with the former crossing low for the latter to finish off first time from eight yards.
Hathaway then saved a further strike by Stevenson with his legs at the near post, before Taylor scored a late consolation for the visitors when he chested down Edwin Ahenkorah's pass before twisting and turning free to dispatch a low shot into the corner from just inside the box.
Hathaway's kept out Alamu-Tajudeen's low strike in the closing moments of the game to keep the losing margin to three.
Valley
Line-up: Hathaway; Summerfield, Ahenkorah, Francis, McGrath; Sahota (Fitzharris 71'), O'Toole (Clements 58'); Arthur (Semahimbo 65'), Nee, Charles (Tucker 58'); Taylor. Subs not used: Mensah, Osoimoejiokhian.
