Scarborough Athletic slip to 1-0 defeat at struggling Stafford Rangers

On-loan Kieran Glynn missed out after picking up a knock in training with parent club Salford City, while the returning Connor Thomson went straight in to the starting line up after re-joining the club for a second loan spell from Gateshead on Thursday.

Neat build up play on nine minutes between skipper Michael Coulson, Thomson and Pete Davidson teed up James Walshaw, who could only fire over the bar.

Boro keeper Tommy Taylor had to be alert to keep out a fierce strike from Stafford's Joe Cuff just before the half-hour mark to keep the scores deadlocked heading in at the break.

Kelly's men thought they'd nudged ahead just after the interval, Thomson forcing the ball home after Coulson's initial header came back off the post, but the linesman's flag was raised to deny Boro the lead.

Boro's hopes of a positive result on the road took a hammer blow when Wayne Brooksby dragged down a Stafford man who was clean through on goal on 54 minutes and was shown a red card, reducing Boro to 10 men with over half-an-hour to play.

The only goal of the game arrived for the struggling hosts on 71 minutes when Jake Charles cut in from the left flank and lashed past Taylor for 1-0.

Boro couldn't unlock the Stafford defence to get back on level terms, and Taylor had to be at his best to keep out another Charles effort after he was played in one-on-one to keep the score at 1-0.

Defeat leaves Boro in 12th place in the NPL standings as they now look to bounce back when they welcome another struggling side in Ashton United to the Flamingo Land Stadium next Saturday.

DON'T MISS: Charlie Hopper's extended match report, player ratings and Darren Kelly's column in Thursday's Scarborough News.