Rugby Town's poor start ot the season continued on a scorching Bank Holiday Monday at Butlin Road as Shepshed Dynamo ran out narrow winners after a dour game.
In a game of very few clear cut chances, Shepshed forward Jesse Friend's 24th-minute penalty seperated the sides and ultimately secured the three points for the visitors who consigned Valley to a third straight defeat.
Rugby manager Grant Joshua made three changes from the loss at Anstey as Olly West and Callum Griffin returned to the midfield and Harrison Nee came back into the frontline.
After a fairly decent opening for Rugby saw Cairo Taylor firstly squander a chance to be clean through by a touch which took him too wide and ultimately he saw his shot blocked before he almost caught out Shepshed goalkeeper Dan Wallis at his near post but his effort just went wide of the post after a good surge forwards by Caine Elliott.
Shepshed defender Declan Peart did well to cut out Nee's low cross in the six yard box with Joe Palmer ready to pounce before Elliott then side-footed wide from outside the area after good work by Griffin on the right before the visitors got themselves ahead, somewhat out of the blue.
Ethan Hanson got himself in a bit of a pickle in his own penalty area and he ended up tripping Callum Burkey and for the third game in a row Valley went behind from the penalty spot as Friend sent Marcus Bald the wrong way.
The remainder of the half saw only speculative attempts as Harrison Nee saw a shot from inside the area blocked while Taylor failed to connect properly with his 20-yard effort while Friend tamely shot straight at Bald from a tight angle.
Josh Thomas' header from a corner was comfortably cleared before Rugby did have a strong shout for a penalty in the first half when Hanson got to the ball first before being kicked by Kyle Dixon who was attempting to clear but the referee waved away the protests.
After the break there was even less action to report as Jack Rogers fired a shot from outside the area straight at Bald for the visitors while Dilano Reid's 25-yard free kick was comfortably saved by Wallis.
The best chance of the second period fell to Dynamo substitute Dylan Reason whose downward header was well parried away by Bald with another Reason shot effort from inside the area blocked by Hanson.
Rugby huffed and puffed in the second half but really struggled to cause any real problems for the Shepshed defence with a series of free-kicks, long throws and corners well dealt with by the visiting defence.
Despite the pressure on the Shepshed defence the closest thing Rugby could muster to a shot at goal was substitute Curvin Sanderson-Ellis off target floated header after excellent wing play by centre back Thomas.
Valley
Line-up: Bald; Tye, Kabeya (McNeil 46'), Thomas, Hanson (Francis 88'); West (Sahota 81'), Elliott, Griffin (Sanderson-Ellis 64'); Taylor (Reid 46'), Nee, Palmer. Subs not used: None. Booked: Sahota.
