Boss Martyn Davies proud of his Market Drayton battlers

“We were never able to recapture that Runcorn form but to their great credit, the lads never stopped trying,” he said.

“You can’t win every game but it is possible to always work your hardest at it – and that was certainly the case Saturday. We kept at it right until the final whistle.

“Overall, I think they deserved 2-1. We took the lead and might have scored another couple in the first half but they changed things around and could well have scored more in the second.

“The good thing is that, admittedly with a bit of luck, we stuck with them to the point where might even have nicked a point in the final 10 minutes or so after they got their second.”

There were few cheers from the near 300 crowd when Louis Irvine moved forward from defence to crack a 17th minute shot past Radcliffe’s surprised keeper, Ollie Martin.

Town felt they deserved another when Simon Gregory’s drive looked to have been saved by an arm other than Martin’s.

Instead, they conceded a 36th minute equaliser. Scott Metcalfe, the opposition’s lively left winger, laid on the chance with an inch-accurate cross and Callum Grogan did well to get a powerful close range header past keeper Ash Rawlins.

Radcliffe’s strong squad helped tip the scales in the second half as they regrouped to mount much more direct attacks that soon began to stretch Town’s defence.

And just when it seemed Drayton might survive a battering unscathed, their host’s final substitute, Liam Wood, scored a 79th minute winner with almost his first touch.

Drayton didn’t let it rest there and in a frenetic finish they very nearly nicked an Evo-Stick NPL West point with great efforts by Harvey Howell and Lynden Campbell going close.

Drayton’s next game is at home on Saturday to the league’s new backmarkers, Skelmersdale United, whose 5-1 defeat by Mossley left them with only one victory from 16 outings.