St Albans City 3, Halifax Town 2

The Shaymen slipped to 19th in the table - only out of the relegation zone on goal difference - after suffering more away-day misery.

This defeat was their 11th on the road and it enabled fellow strugglers St Albans to move a small step closer to safety.

Having opened brightly, Halifax found themselves with a mountain to climb when the Saints scored twice in two minutes midway through the first half.

Lee Clarke bagged the opener, tapping home a Paul Hann cross, and Leon Archer made it 2-0 from a quickly-taken free-kick that caught out the Halifax defence.

Felix Bastians, who impressed on his Town debut, gave the visitors hope when he pulled a goal back ten minutes before the break.

And the youngster, on loan from Nottingham Forest, flashed a shot on the turn narrowly wide soon after.

Substitute Darryn Stamp, who replaced former Bradford man Danny Forrest, headed off target early in the second period.

But hopes of a fightback were effectively ended in the 58th minute when Archer collected a wayward Town clearance and picked out Tom Davis, who bagged the home side's third goal from the edge of the area.

Town keeper Craig Mawson saved well to deny Paul Hakim and Damian Batt before Stamp pulled one back for the visitors after breaking down the middle.

But it was only a consolation goal and the last-minute red card shown to Dean Cracknell had no effect on the outcome.