Rugby Town were knocked out of the Isuzu FA Trophy by ten-man Carlton Town at Butlin Road after a penalty shoot-out.
The result means Rugby exit at the first hurdle and continues Valley's rotten run in the competition which stretches back to 2010 since they last won an FA Trophy tie.
The hosts' starting line-up showed four changes from the narrow FA Cup success at Barton a week earlier, with Edwin Ahenkorah and Liam Francis drafted back into Town's defence, and Chris Clements and Tayo Tucker also in from the off.
Carlton's Niall Davie's early effort was comfortably taken by Paul Hathaway, and Tucker sent in two threatening crosses as the game started brightly, with Davie seeing another on-target strike blocked by Josh Thomas.
Hathaway punched-save kept out Nathan Watson's shot, and Dan Summerfield lifted Tucker's lay-back over the bar at the other end, as the open nature of the tie continued.
Lamin Manneh nearly opened the scoring when he did well to get on the end of Neo Saunders's low cross, but he could only help the ball narrowly wide instead.
Another Tucker delivery from the flank saw David Kolodynski crowded out in the box, and a Clements free-kick was just beyond the reach of a stretching Thomas, as Rugby pushed back at the Nottingham-based outfit.
Carlton then had their best spell of the first-half, and a well-struck effort from Davie skipped up off the surface to force Hathaway into a decent stop, with a header from the same man cleared away from the goalmouth by Clements and a further header by Dean Freeman caught by Hathaway.
Although they were riding their luck a little in closing stages of the half, it was in fact Rugby that had the final chance of the opening forty-five when Kolodynski's rising strike was grabbed at the second attempt by Felix Annan.
The second half was a far more scrappy, cagey affair overall, with Manneh rippling Hathaway's side netting representing a rare goalscoring attempt from either team in its opening exchanges. Mike Taylor was unable to finish off Harrison Nee's flashed-in cross, before roles were reversed and Nee just failed to get onto Taylor's defensive-splitting pass.
The dynamic shifted on 67 minutes when Carlton's Khyle Sargent was sent-off for his second yellow card of the afternoon, with the visitors inevitably retreating and Valley left to dictate the game with the extra man.
Unfortunately, the home side rarely looked likely to take advantage of their new-found numerical superiority, and clear cut chances were few and far between.
A weak Taylor header and a wayward Clements free-kick failed to trouble Annan, with an overhit Tucker cross shortly after also coming to nothing.
Both teams could have sealed the tie in added-time though, with Liam Moran's acrobatic volley on the turn also finding the side netting for Carlton, and then Rugby sub Trey Charles almost scored with his first touch of the game when he ran onto Madundo Semahimbo's pass to strike the ball onto Annan's legs and away to safety.
The match therefore went straight to a penalty shoot-out instead, and the hosts made the perfect start when Hathaway kept out the first strike from the spot by Moran.
Charles scored his for Rugby, before Lawrence Stewart-Gorman kicked-off the visitors' tally.
However in Valley's next two penalties, Clements hit the post and Annan saved Ethan O'Toole's effort, with Carlton's Lord Marfo and Manneh, and Rugby's Hilton Arthur all successfully converting theirs to give Carlton a 3-2 advantage after four penalties each.
Hathaway then saved Watson's attempt to keep the hosts in the game, with Taylor scoring to take the shoot-out to sudden death at 3-3.
Freeman and Semahimbo made it 4-4, with Michael Ford edging Carlton ahead before Barry Fitzharris's strike to Annan's left was saved to see the visitors through to the Second Qualifying Round of the competition.
