It was another frustrating day for St Helens Town at Alsager on Saturday as they slipped to a 4-2 defeat when they could easily have come away with a draw.

The afternoon was cold but bright and the pitch passed two inspections, although the grass next to the edge of the pitch and some of the spectator accommodation was clearly frozen.

St Helens started the brighter of the two sides and played some very good football, but their opponents had a well-drilled defence in which centre backs Calvin Houghton and Reis Lee were outstanding.

There were several heavy challenges in the opening 10 minutes and in fact Alsager’s Tom Brown was shown a yellow card within the first five seconds.

Once the players had got to know each other a little better, St Helens turned on the style and Andy Gillespie, Chad Whyte, James Rushton-Woods and Cole Ashton were involved in many good moves which, on another day, might well have produced goals.

Rushton-Woods went close on 12 minutes following good work from Ashton and, three minutes later, the visitors should have scored after Gillespie crossed to Whyte who hit a good shot in the crowded penalty-box, but twisted his knee in the process.

In their first attack of note, on 15 minutes, Alsager took the lead following a break down the left. The first shot was blocked by James Halpin and was partly cleared by keeper Rory Crowther, but Ryan Wintle was well placed to net the loose ball.

At the other end, a couple of minutes later, a good cross to the far post was met simultaneously by Aaron Morris and Hamish Falconer and the headed ball went high over the home side’s bar.

Shortly afterwards, Alsager went 2-0 up in bizarre circumstances when two scuffed clearances from their own half found a huge gap down the right of the Town defence and Wintle netted with a well-placed shot inside the near post.

St. Helens fought back immediately and Ashton intercepted a pass and found Whyte in space, but his shot went just over the bar.

Whyte and Gillespie then combined but Gillespie could not get any force behind his effort. The play then switched to the other end, where Crowther pulled off a great double save to deny David Harry.

The visitors grabbed a goal back just before half-time when Whyte played a wonderful one-two with Rushton-Woods and the former beat the keeper at his near post.

St. Helens began the second-half on the offensive and Gillespie very nearly equalised when his shot was mis-judged by home goalie Matt Dryden, who was very lucky to keep the ball out of the net. Within a minute, Whyte went between two defenders into the box, but was squeezed out as he prepared to shoot, but his penalty claim was denied.

Immediately afterwards, Rushton-Woods burst into the box and was brought down, but a free-kick was awarded just outside the area, but it mattered not, for the same player hit a wonderful set piece shot, which the home keeper parried and Gillespie, catching hold of the spinning rebound, scored from an almost impossible angle to bring the scores level at 2-2.

Moments later Gillespie should have put Town ahead when he broke clear but his thunderous shot rebounded to safety off the crossbar.

From that point onwards, the visitors appeared favourites to win, but once again, against the run of play, Alsager broke up the right wing and a pin-point cross found Wintle perfectly placed to head past Crowther to restore the home side’s lead.

St Helens pressed hard for what would have been a deserved equaliser, substitutes Jack McKay and Marcus Perry joining the fray but, try as they might, could not level and, to add insult to injury, Elcock netted a fourth in the last minute, leaving the final score line with a decidedly unbalanced look.

St Helens visit West Didsbury & Chorlton next Saturday for their fifth consecutive away game, then face a blank weekend before returning to home action against Bootle on 7th February, their first league match at Brocstedes Park since November.