Valley slipped to a second NPL Midlands defeat in a row away at Anstey Nomads.

Rugby took the lead during a closely fought first half but then were pegged back just before half time with Anstey taking control in the second half to see out the victory.

Sam Tye scored his first goal for the club just after the half hour mark when he took a touch in the area before smartly snapping a low shot into the net on the turn after Curvin Sanderson-Ellis and Josh Thomas had got touches to Bleu McNeil's long throw-in.

Parity was restored just before half time when Valley conceded a disappointingly soft penalty as Cairo Talyor caught Courey Grantham as he attempted to make a fairly innocuous clearance and Tendai Chitiza stepped up to score despite Marcus Bald's best efforts to keep it out.

Anstey put Valley under more pressure in the second half and took the lead on the hour mark when Nathan Kabeya's attempted clearance was blocked and fell perfectly into the path of Grantham who made no mistake with a powerful low finish.

The scoring was completed late on with another clumsy goal as an attempted cutback was inadvertedly diverted by debutant substitute Max Beech straight to Anstey sub Liam Murphy who had the simple task of poking into the net from close range despite being in a position about five yards offside.

Full report to follow.

Valley Line-up: Bald; McNeil, Kabeya, Thomas, Hanson; Elliott (Sahota 71'), Tye; Reid (Shaw 71'), Taylor (Beech 81'), Palmer; Sanderson-Ellis (Nee 63'). Subs not used: Francis. Booked: Kabeya, Hanson, Palmer, Taylor.