Valley slipped to a deflating home defeat against Boldmere St Michaels despite taking an early lead.
Stan Anaebonam's third goal of the season had given the hosts a tenth-minute breakthrough, before Mikes' skipper Danny O'Callaghan levelled things up ahead of the interval
However, after a sustained period of pressure from Rugby and with just thirteen minutes of normal time remaining, Boldmere were awarded a penalty which saw O'Callaghan step up to slot home - with Town also reduced to ten men from the incident after Bleu McNeil received his second yellow of the evening.
Valley's opening eleven showed three changes from the defeat at Lichfield three days earlier, with Ethan Pheasey preferred between the sticks, Geoffrey Lundoloki making his first start at full-back and Ryan Sahota also back in after a four-match chest-injury absence.
Town nearly found themselves a goal adrift after just four minutes though, when Pheasey was adjudged to have taken down Charlie Manners in the box, but Pheasey made amends with an excellent save from the resulting penalty by getting across sharply to his right to push the well-struck attempt from Harry Wakefield onto the post and ultimately away to safety.
Rugby responded well to this early warning though, and after a neat team interchange on the left-hand side between Callum Griffin, Sahota and Rivel Mardenborough, Boldmere keeper Jon Brown was off his line quickly to snuff out Mardenborough's dinked effort from a tight angle.
Caine Elliott then caused the visitors problems when he twice swung crosses into the Boldmere penalty from pre-rehearsed corner routines, before Anaebonam found the net when his strike from twenty yards looped up off a defender after Sahota had done well to regain possession in midfield and Elliott had touched the ball onto him.
Another Anaebonam strike from wide was gathered easily by Brown, but generally there was a lack of goalmouth action for a long period until O'Callaghan blazed one high and wide of the target just after the half-hour mark.
Griffin did then flash one across the face of Boldmere's goal after quick feet from Sahota, and a threatening cross from Mardenborough was headed away after the striker had shown a great touch to create himself space.
The visitors equalised on 37 minutes when Frankie Ealing's free-kick to the back-post was headed down and in by O'Callaghan, after McNeil had picked up his first booking of the evening for a foul on the right.
Anaebonam had a shot blocked, whilst at the other end, Freddie Cockerell was smothered out after a quick break just before the opening period came to a conclusion. Griffin guided one wide soon after the restart after Mardenborough had laid the ball back to him, as the home side made a promising start.
Aside from Wakefield's weak shot that bounced wide, it was pretty much all Rugby, with Griffin's whipped centre headed away, Olly West heading wide Elliott's free-kick from the right and Anaebonam denied by the legs of Brown after Mardenborough had picked him out with a first time pass.
Sam Tye then put one wide after Griffin's initial effort had fallen at his feet, before Isaac Adegoke shot from distance was deflected away for a corner.
Griffin and Anaebonam both had shots from the edge of the area blocked in quick succession, as Town continued to pile on the pressure, so it was totally against the run of play when Boldmere broke quickly and sub Jayden Bailey-Hunter ran onto Wakefield's pass to be pulled down by McNeil just inside the box.
McNeil duly received his marching orders for the challenge, and this time Boldmere made no mistake from the spot, with O'Callaghan beating Pheasey to his left for his second of the night.
Thomas then executed a perfectly-timed tackle to thwart Pierre Phillips as he threatened to stretch the visitors' lead further, with Harrison Nee missing the target by some distance for Rugby after he had cut in from the left.
The last chance of the game fell to Boldmere, with Phillips's low strike pushed around the post by Pheasey, before the referee's whistle signalled a fourth straight single goal home league defeat for Valley.
Valley
Line-up: Pheasey; Tye, Lundoloki (Kabeya 70'), Thomas, McNeil; West (Adegoke 67'), Sahota (Nee 60'), Elliott, Griffin; Anaebonam (Taylor 82'), Mardenborough. Subs not used: Bald. Booked: McNeil, Adegoke. Sent off: McNeil.
