RUGBY Town suffered a 4-1 home defeat against play-off chasing Hinckley Leicester Road as Valley lost for the third game in a row in the league.
Valley fell behind early on only for Ryan Sahota to equalise before Tendai Daire scored a hat-trick to seal the points for the visitors at Butlin Road.
And the result means Rugby sit 18th in the Northern Premier League Midlands table, three points clear of the relegation zone.
Hinckley broke the deadlock after just seven minutes when Aaron Nuttall fired a low effort into the net after skipping past several challenges.
However, Valley drew level two minutes later as Sahota finished Silvano Obeng’s ball across the box after good work from David Kolodynski and Chris Clements.
The visitors restored their lead on 23 minutes as Daire’s effort squirmed past Valley goalkeeper Nykah Liburd-Hines after clever trickery from Nuttall inside the box.
Valley twice went close to an equaliser before the break as both Kolodynski and Jordan Wilson came within inches of drawing the home side level.
However, Hinckley extended their lead on the stroke of half time as Daire saw a penalty saved only to score the rebound after Sahota fouled Nuttall in the area.
And Daire completed his hat-trick on 67 minutes, heading in off the crossbar, as Valley slipped to a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
Rugby are next in action away at Spalding United on Saturday, December 9 with kick-off at 3pm at the Sir Halley Stewart Field.
