Graham sees red as Saints slip further into trouble

The visitors ran out 3-2 winners in Saturday’s clash at St James Park where Saints were made to pay for some poor defending and they also had Luke Graham sent off.

Stalybridge took an early lead as Adam Farrell was afforded too much time to turn before firing in via the bar. Saints spurned three golden first half chances to level as David Moyo twice headed over when well placed and saw keeper Tony McMillan save with his legs one on one.

But two goals in the first five minutes of the second period deservedly put the home side in front.

Moyo found the target having rounded McMillan and coolly picked his spot before Steve Diggin put Saints ahead after a corner was not cleared. Diggin’s first shot was charged down but he made no mistake following up to find the back of the net through a crowd of players for his 11th goal of the season.

But Stalybridge were behind for only a few minutes though as poor defending again allowed Jack Higgins to meet a corner with a crashing header to equalise.

The winner came in the 68th minute when a long ball caused all sorts of problems in the Saints’ defence with Graham fouling Chris Simm to concede a penalty and receiving a straight red card. Bohan Dixon calmly scored from the enduing spot-kick to put the visitors ahead.

Try as they might, ten-man Saints could not conjure another equaliser as they slipped deeper into trouble.