Northwich Victoria 4 Stafford Rangers 3

Steve Bull made three changes, dropping skipper Wayne Daniel in favour of Alan Dodd alongside Djimi Sangare in a three-man central defence.

Neil Grayson, Chris Flynn and Nick Wellecomme found the net – in that order – but defensive errors sent Rangers within one loss of relegation.

All the goals were scored between the 19th and 59th minutes.

Early on, there was little hint of the feast to follow, although Rangers keeper Danny Alcock did produce a great save with his legs to keep out Michael Welch's shot through a crowd.

Stafford went behind but made it 2-1 in the 29th minute to take the lead for the first time since Bull was appointed boss.

But by half-time it was 3-2 Northwich, who were also struggling in the league.

Bull scrapped the Dodd experiment and reverted to a 4-4-2 with Kevin Street coming on to strengthen the midfield.

But seven minutes after the restart, Sangare was adjudged to have felled David Brown in the area. Bull was fuming but Bryne converted and that cushion proved vital.

Richie Sutton was caught by an awful challenge by Brown and suffered ankle ligament damage.