RUGBY Town slipped to a 3-1 defeat away at Aylestone Park in their third pre-season friendly as Valley suffered a number of injury worries.
Valley lost new summer signing Kyle Burke to injury in the first half while Josh Thomas, Dan Summerfield and Jordan Wilson were all forced off throughout the game in Leicester.
Carl Adams gave starts to trialists Mason Platts, a former Valley youth striker, and Bermuda international midfielder Roger Lee, who featured for the club back in 2015.
The game was played in extremely windy conditions while Rugby striker David Kolodynski was sent to the sin bin in the opening few minutes.
Aylestone took the lead on 19 minutes when a short corner allowed a home player to cut in from the right and pick out the corner through a crowded penalty area.
However, Rugby were level just seven minutes later when substitute Dan Summerfield found the bottom right corner from 20-yards out from Platts’ turn and pass.
The home side reclaimed the lead just past the half-hour mark when a 25-yard strike beat Valley goalkeeper Matt Hill.
At the other end, Ryan Sahota went close on a couple of occasions as a deflected strike travelled narrowly over the bar.
Rugby had chances to equalise early in the second half as Jordan Wilson went close on three separate occasions while Kolodynski and Summerfield saw headers miss the target.
However, Aylestone sealed the win on 75 minutes with a simple finish after the home side played themselves in behind the Valley defence.
Rugby are next in action at home to Leamington on Saturday, July 22 with kick-off at 3pm at Butlin Road.
