Workington Reds suffered another setback when they lost 4-3 at 1874 Northwich to slip back to third in the NPL West table.
Two splendid victories over Easter had pushed them up to second above Leek Town but this latest reversal handed the initiative back to Leek who won 1-0 at Colne.
It means Leek have a one point advantage going into the final game next Saturday when they entertain 10th in the table Skelmersdale while Reds host Colne, who are still involved in a fight to avoid relegation.
It has been Reds’ consistent inconsistency which has consistently frustrated the Workington fans – but also manager Danny Grainger.
He admitted to a mixture of disappointment, anger and frustration after this latest defeat a sharp contrast to his reaction after last weekend’s wins over Witton and Kidsgrove.
“We should not be losing after scoring three goals away from home but some of the goals we gave away were horrendous. Some of the decision making was terrible.
“We scored first as well, to settle us down, but I’m afraid after that Northwich were the better team. I hate to say it at this stage of the season but they wanted it more than we did.
“The thing is the boys have done well over the season. You don’t become a bad team overnight so we will dust ourselves down, put in two good training sessions and look to put things right on Saturday.
“Hopefully we have three games left to play and I will be looking for three big performances from the team,” said Grainger.
Dav Symington and Lewis Reilly were both left-out of yesterday’s line-up because they had cut short training on Thursday because of hamstring niggles.
Scott Allison had given Reds the lead but Northwich came back to lead before Ruben Jerome scored the equaliser. His penalty had been saved but he knocked in the rebound.
Northwich came back again to lead 4-2 before Allison scored a late third goal for Reds and they had a couple of chances after that to square it.
