Rugby Town slumped to a desperately poor away defeat to Hinckley Leicester Road in the NPL Midlands.
Despite still having the majority of their play-off team from last season, Hinckley were without a league win before the game but they found little resistance against a Rugby team who seemed devoid of confidence.
With Dan Summerfield and Hilton Arthur still out injured, Town boss Carl Adams shuffled his pack a little and there were returns to the starting line-up for the experienced duo Chris Clements and Liam Francis.
Rugby made a reasonably bright start with half chances for both Trey Charles and Caine Elliott early on, but the hosts slowly started to gain control, with Michael Armstrong lifting one over and Ben Humphreys also sending a long range effort above the bar.
Dom Brennan then struck the frame with a decent shot after his initial free-kick had been blocked, with the hosts' pressure finally telling on 32 minutes when Humphreys rose above Josh Thomas to head in Brennan's corner from the right.
Aaron Nuttall's surging run into the box ended with an off-target poked effort, and Brennan also put a decent opportunity wide of the goal as the first-half drew to a close.
Another Nuttall attempt was pushed away for a corner by Paul Hathaway not long after play resumed, with a promising run out wide by Thomas representing a rare moment of threat from Valley - but the final cross from the Town skipper was a disappointing one.
It was pretty much all Hinckley thereafter, with the second goal coming on 55 minutes when Nuttall set Brennan up for a simple, composed finish.
Liam Read poked a good chance wide, before Nuttall made it three when he scored into an empty net after Hathaway had done well to deny Read - after he had run onto Armstrong's ball through the middle of a dumbfounded-looking Town defence.
Nuttall had two shots blocked, as did Read, before Read did notch one when Rugby were again opened up far too easily - this time by a Humphreys pass, with the Hinckley striker taking his time before stroking home past Hathaway.
Hathaway kept out further efforts from Nuttall and Read as the floodgates threaten to open for the rampaging hosts, with Hathaway then doing particularly well with a finger-tip save to Louie Gill's free-kick strike.
The fifth goal came from another Humphreys header to Brennan's deep corner - with this time Francis the one to be beaten in the air, with Nuttall almost making it six shortly after when he fluffed his shot to Gill's centre.
Town did register a consolation from the spot with one minute of normal remaining when Charles powered his penalty into the top corner, after Joseph Lye was somewhat harshly adjudged to have handled Clements's corner.
Hathaway's neat save to Nuttall's save late-on and Jordan Burrows's failure to force home the loose ball at close quarters kept the defeat to a four-goal margin.
Valley
Line-up: Hathaway; Thomas (Fitzharris 68'), Lekuti, Francis, Atcha; Clements, Elliott (Sahota 76'); Tucker (Taylor 56'), Nee, O'Toole (Mensah 76'); Charles. Subs not used: Osoimoejiokhian. Booked: Atcha, Clements, O'Toole.
