Rugby Town made a perfect start to their UCL Premier South campaign with a victory away at Histon.

Valley returned from Cambridgeshire with three goals and a clean sheet in their return to Step Five, with second-half strikes from Ryan Bridgewater and Nathan Scott adding to Devonn O'Sullivan's early opener at a sun-drenched Bridge Road stadium.

Town's starting eleven was a mix of old and new, with six Rugby debutants and five returning to pull on a sky blue shirt - including two of last season's relegation squad Sam Tye and Rivel Mardenborough.

The visitors made an assured start, and Mardenborough was soon testing Histon keeper Chris Brazil with a low shot. The hosts created the next opening though, when Elliot Mills did well down the right-hand flank before sending in a cross that Jake Duffy hastily headed behind for a corner.

Rugby were soon back on the attack, with Aaron Nuttall showing great feet to skip past two Histon defenders before finding his wide counterpart at the far post, but he put in a wayward effort that flew back across the pitch for a throw-in However, the Valley faithful did not have to wait long for a goal when in the eighth-minute Tye cleverly played in Mardenborough behind the Histon defence, and although it initially seemed that the striker had veered too wide when rounding Brazil, Mardenborough managed to steer the ball into the path of O'Sullivan to apply a first-time finish.

Samuels then almost capitalised on a long cross-field delivery, before another neat Tye pass was just too long for Mardenborough, as Town looked to quickly double their advantage.

It looked like they had achieved this objective when Jake Wormleighton headed home Stephan Morley's corner to the back-post, but the goal was ruled out for an apparent offence somewhere else in the six-yard box.

Returning Rugby keeper Ash Bodycote was then off his line quickly to tackle Mar-Lee Fisher after Finley Edwards had released him through the middle, with Fisher almost in again shortly after - as the hosts started to make more of an impression on the game.

A scramble in the Town box saw back-to-back efforts blocked, before Bodycote was finally able to smother the loose ball, before Brazil pulled off a top drawer point-blank reaction save to prevent Samuels finishing off a Nuttall cross.

Wormleighton headed one wide, before Valley really should have grabbed their second after Max York had been dispossessed by Jamie Ashmore in his own half to set up a 3-on-1 break, which saw the new Valley skipper advance into the penalty area and slip the ball onto Samuels - whose strike was blocked by the solitary covering defender, with Nuttall also handily placed to his left.

Bridgewater missed out on a further headed opportunity to another corner from the right, and Brazil pulled off another good stop to Mardenborough's low shot, before the final chance of the opening period saw Bodycote grab Lil Francisco's low strike from distance at the second attempt.

Nuttall poked one straight at Brazil in the opening exchanges of the new period, before Edwards showed good vision and a nicely-weighted pass to send Fisher through on goal again - only to see Bodycote out quickly once more and spread himself well to keep out the resulting effort. Samuels then put in a long range effort after he had cut in from his wing, which Brazil pushed away, before both Bridgewater and Wormleighton headed corners from Jake Duffy off-target.

Bridgewater was back performing his defensive duties by blocking Edwards' strike on his own line after the Histon man had managed to get the better of a tangle with Bodycote around the edge of the Town box.

Rugby made it two after Bridgewater managed to get some contact on Duffy's viciously whipped-in free-kick on 63 minutes, with the ball hitting both Francisco and the underside of the bar before ending up in the net.

Harry Hurst fired way over the bar and Ryan Sharman flashed one dangerously across the face of Bodycote's goal, as the hosts tried to get one back, with Mardenborough then hitting the side netting at the other end.

The home side continued to create chances of their own though, with Bridgewater again forced to clear one away from the goalmouth, before Rugby sub Scott grabbed the goal of the game with a sweet strike from 25 yards after O'Sullivan had laid the ball onto him from a Town short corner routine.

The final ten minutes that followed Scott's game sealing moment yielded a number of opportunities for both teams, with Mardenborough's cross to the back-post just too high for sub Harrison Nee, and then Ryan Boothe's first-touch deserting him after Nee had picked out his fellow replacement with his centre.

Scott's charge towards the Histon goal ended with a cross that was just cut-out, with Bodycote pulling off a decent save to Fuscillo's strike and Dan Brown dragging one wide just wide of the target in added-time.

Valley Line-up: Bodycote; Ashmore, Morley, Bridgewater, Wormleighton; Duffy (Scott 72'), O'Sullivan, Tye (Cook 90'+4); Samuels (Boothe 79'), Nuttall (Nee 75'), Mardenborough. Subs not used: Cooper. Booked: None.

Histon Line-up: Brazil, Francisco, Hurst, Kenny, York, Motley, Fisher, Tokley, Sharman, Edwards, Mills. Subs: D'Angelo, Gould, Brown, Shenille, Diver.