Harrison Nee rescued a draw with a late equaliser at Butlin Road against Boldmere St Michaels in the NPL Midlands.
It had been relatively uneventful affair following Liam Murphy's early goal for the visitors, but just as it looked like the result was slipping away from Rugby, Nee was centrally involved in three key incidents in the final few minutes - missing a glorious opportunity to snatch a winner just after his leveller, before receiving a red card in stoppage time.
Town boss Carl Adams made five changes to the side that had lost the FA Cup replay at Hednesford earlier in the week, with Caine Elliott into the midfield following his return to the club from Leamington, and Damien Osoimoejiokhian, Josh Thomas, Chris Clements and Tayo Tucker also on from the off.
The visitors soon took the lead though when Harry Sweeney's low cross to the near post was met by Liam Murphy - who sneaked the ball home past Paul Hathaway's right hand.
Ex-Valley man Theo Rowe then had a decent shot from distance, but a deflection took the pace off the strike and Hathaway was able to gather easily.
Boldmere continued to threaten, with Damien Osoimoejiokhian executing a perfectly-timed tackle to thwart Murphy as he looked to force his way through the middle of the Rugby defence, and Liam Francis also doing well to clear a dangerous centre into the six-yard box.
Mikey Taylor did bundle an effort wide of the goal after he had shown good strength to create an opening on the edge of the penalty area in Town's first proper opening, with Hathaway then catching Daniel Gyasi's rising strike at the other end.
The hosts did create a couple of further chances courtesy of right hand side deliveries from Trey Charles, with Thomas flicking his corner wide of the target and Mikes' defender Joseph Hull heading a cross from Rugby's top scorer away for a corner.
Gyasi's jinking run ended with him sending one over the bar, before Thomas headed a Clements' corner into Boldmere keeper Jon Brown's hands.
A Nee cross following an impressive break from Rugby was cleared by Hull, and then Brown did well to punch away Tucker's headed ball into the danger zone after Clements's initial corner had also been cleared by the keeper.
Francis's tackle on Alfie Taylor in the box was ruled legitimate by the referee, with the final chance of the first half seeing Oliver West's effort deflected wide for Boldmere.
Rugby nearly got back on level terms in the opening moments of the new period, when Taylor ran onto a long ball before attempting to lift the ball over the onrushing Brown, but the keeper managed to get a hand to it and push it behind.
Hathaway comfortably dealt with Murphy's effort after Rowe had broken quickly, before Taylor muscled his way through again only to see Charles unable to get full control to his squared pass.
Charles then powered in a centre that flew just high of Taylor's head, with a further interchange in the final third of the pitch between the two Valley attackers again not quite coming off.
Osoimooejiokhian's near post header to a Clements corner drifted over, before the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the half by creating a series of opportunities to put the game beyond Rugby.
Rowe was starting to look particularly dangerous against his old team-mates - first having a shot blocked by Francis, with Alfie Taylor blazing over the rebound. The Boldmere winger was then denied by a good saving tackle from Thomas - followed by a similar challenge by Francis, with Hull's on-target header blocked and cleared away by Mikey Taylor, and Alfie Taylor putting a strike wide of the frame.
Sub Sean Devlin had two good opportunities to grab a second for his side, but first he volleyed over and then he dragged an even better chance wide of Hathway's goal.
Nee's eventful end to the game then followed, with the ex-Coventry City man helping home Charles's corner to the back post via a defender's deflection to get Town back on level terms on 88 minutes.
Shortly after this, Charles had headed on Hathaway's long clearance onto Nee and despite a heavy first touch from him, he got a second bite at the cherry when Brown slipped, but having skipped round the keeper, Nee screwed the ball wide.
Nee's final act of a busy six minutes saw him dismissed for laying hands on Gyasi, after the Boldmere player had attempted to stop Valley taking a quick throw in stoppage time.
Valley
Line-up: Hathaway; Summerfield, Osoimoejiokhian, Thomas (Fitzharris 80'), Francis; Clements, Elliott (O'Toole 67'); Charles, Nee, Tucker; Taylor (Arthur 75'). Subs not used: Ahenkorah, Mensah. Booked: Thomas, Charles. Sent Off: Nee.
