Valley's poor run continued as they slipped to defeat at AFC Rushden and Diamonds in the NPL Midlands.

In a closely-fought game of many set pieces but few shots on goal, it was Diamonds who found the cutting edge on the evening to take the points and extend Rugby's winless league streak to four games.

Rivel Mardenborough had returned to the Town side after a three-match absence, with Cairo Taylor also back into the starting line-up against his previous club, as Greg Tempest and Callum Griffin were both ruled out injured from the team that had taken to the field for the disappointing defeat at Bedworth.

It was generally a quiet start to the game, although the home side were aggrieved they were not awarded a penalty early on following a Josh Thomas tackle on Tyler Winters in the box.

Caine Elliott and Trey Charles both attempted to lift balls over the top of the Diamonds' defence, but each time they were overhit, and a Teddy Rowe effort was blocked away for a corner in other threatening glimpses.

Twenty-six minutes were on the clock before either side mustered a shot on goal though, with Town keeper Marcus Bald doing well to save David Adegbola's strike after the full-back had battled to win possession on the right-hand channel.

An inswinging Rowe corner was clawed away from the goal-line by one-time Valley stopper Dan Jezeph, whilst Elliott blocked out Bruno Andrade at the back-post to keep the game score-less.

Joel Nkeita's cross was then punched away Bald, and Mardenborough's header to Nathan Kabeya's delivery from wide lacked the power to trouble Jezeph.

Winters was just unable to get a shot off from a threatening position, with Bleu McNeil the one to deny the striker who is making a name for himself on the currently popular Baller League TV competition.

The best chance of the first-half fell to Rugby on 43 minutes, when Taylor surged from deep inside his own half to ultimately square the ball across to Mardenborough - whose first-time effort went wide of the post.

Trey Charles's low effort was kept out by Jezeph, and Thomas did well to head clear Adegbola's cross, as the opening period came to a close.

The first attempt on goal of the new half saw Rowe try to catch out Jezeph with a cheeky free-kick to his near post, but the Rushden keeper dealt with it comfortably, before he forced to pull off a fine one-handed stop to keep out Taylor's shot after Rowe had clipped him in.

Thomas put the ball into the side-netting from the resulting Rowe corner, before hosts took the lead on 53 minutes when once more they were punished for failing to clear their lines from a scramble from a corner, with Winters pouncing on Tarik Dallas's blocked header to score.

Andrade's free-kick from a dangerous central position was fortunately a good height for Bald to save, and then Tejan Thomas poked one wide from another troubling Andrade corner.

Dallas also helped one the wrong side of the post, as the hosts looked to make the game safe, although Mardenborough was almost onto a Sam Tye flick-on, and a deep cross from Charles was competently taken high by Jezeph.

Nkeita's header to yet-another Andrade corner was well-saved by Bald, before Mardenborough found the side-netting and Tye shot wide on the turn with a poor connection - frustratingly injuring his groin in the process.

With the game opening up, as Rugby committed numbers forward in search of an equaliser, Thomas made a good sliding tackle to thwart sub Will Russell.

However, when Russell created himself space again in the box shortly after, the hosts put the game beyond Valley, with Bald only able to push away Russell's strike with his legs - which provided Andrade with a straightforward opportunity to score with the follow-up.

Winters' speculative effort from inside his own half drifted wide, and a rising shot from Rowe deflected over in the closing moments.

Valley Line-up: Bald; Kabeya, Lundoloki (Stolowski 90'+2), Thomas, McNeil; Tye (Shaw 84'), Elliott, Rowe; Taylor (Organ 80'), Charles (Concannon 80'), Mardenborough. Subs not used: Adegoke.

Rushden Line-up: Jezeph, Adegbola, Hartley, Nkeita, Thomas, Dallas, Poku, Daldy, Winters, Andrade, Webster. Subs: Elsom, Davies, Russell, Sandy, Kyezu.