RUGBY Town suffered a 2-1 defeat against Corby Town after having two players sent off early in the second half.
Both Josh Thomas and Olly West saw red for Valley within 10 minutes of the start of the second period at Butlin Road.
That came after Tyrone Lewthwaite’s early penalty put Corby ahead before Thomas received his marching orders four minutes after half time.
And Rory McAuley doubled Corby’s lead before West’s dismissal left Rugby down to nine-men for more than half an hour.
However, the nine-men defied the odds to halve the deficit as Rivel Mardenborough found the net.
Corby had Hugh Alban-Jones sent off in injury time with Valley unable to find an equaliser in the final few moments.
And the result means Rugby sit 13th in the Northern Premier League Midlands table.
The visitors broke the deadlock on 13 minutes when Lewthwaite scored from the penalty spot after Ethan Hanson fouled the former in the box.
And Rugby then lost Thomas to a straight red card for a foul on Aaron Nuttall on the halfway line just four minutes after the break.
Corby made the most of the man advantage to double their lead on 52 minutes as McAuley looped a header into the net from Alban-Jones’ free-kick.
Valley then had West sent off three minutes later as he picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Nuttall.
However, Rugby halved the deficit on 67 minutes when Mardenborough finished from close range from Caine Elliott’s clever free-kick.
A third red card came in injury time with Alban-Jones sent off for Corby at the death.
Rugby are next in action against Anstey Nomads on Saturday, August 23 with kick-off at 3pm at Cropston Road.
