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.
Grant Joshua made a number of changes from the Corby defeat with first starts for the club for Curvin Sanderson-Ellis and Dilano Reid with Bleu McNeil and Joe Palmer also returning to the lineup.
Both sides made a decent start but it was Rugby who were kicking themselves in just the second minute when Sam Tye glanced a header wide from a prime position in the middle of the goal six yards out following Cairo Taylor's terrific inswinging free-kick.
The hosts then posed a more regular threat early on with front man Courey Grantham threatening to get in behind but Josh Thomas got back to make an excellent block in the penalty area.
Shortly after Nathan Kabeya came to the rescue for Valley as he made a fine goal line clearance to deny Ben Humphreys following a corner with Kyle Tomlin shooting straight at Marcus Bald soon afterwards.
Thomas again did well to get back to block a Grantham shot from the edge of the area after initially misjudging a bouncing ball.
Rugby's first shot in anger came just before the half hour mark when Reid's awkward low free-kick from 20 yards forced Conrad Logan into a save.
The deadlock was then broken as Tye scored his first goal for the club when he took a touch in the area before smartly snapping a low shot into the net on the turn after Sanderson-Ellis and Josh Thomas had got touches to Bleu McNeil's long throw-in.
Caine Elliott came agonisingly close to doubling the lead with a superbly-executed 25-yard free kick but his curling effort just missed the postage stamp and flew wide of Logan's post.
Parity was restored just before half time when Valley conceded a disappointingly soft penalty as Cairo Taylor 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 were able to exert more control in the second half with Cosmos Matwasa failing to make contact with a header inside the six yard box
Bald made a good save to deny Josh Burniston who had got in behind the Rugby defence before Matwasa saw a shot well blocked by Ethan Hanson.
The hosts finally did take the lead on the hour mark when Kabeya's attempted clearance was blocked and fell perfectly into the path of Grantham who made no mistake with a powerful low finish.
Kabeya fired a low 25-yard strike straight down Logan's throat but at the other end Bald had to make another strong save to keep out Grantham's shot from 18 yards after he had ran off the back of Thomas before Hanson twice made good blocks to deny Tomlin.
Rugby did rally to some extent but struggled to create genuine periods of pressure or clear cut chances but they did occassionally threaten Nomad's goal.
Debutant Dan Shaw came off the bench and did some good work to release fellow sub Harrison Nee whose shot was blocked.
Another sub Ryan Sahota turned defence into attack with a fine retrieval and ball carry which ended in Joe Palmer just putting too much lift on his shot from 20 yards
Neat play out wide by Tye set up Shaw to run at the Anstey defence but he didn't quite catch his 30 yarder right and Logan was able to comfortably save.
Valley's hopes were extinguished late on with another clumsy goal as Jacob Fenton's ateempted 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.
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.
