A spirited finish wasn’t enough to prevent Uxbridge suffering their third consecutive league defeat in ten days. It was also the third game running that the Reds had failed to score but they had enough chances in this match to have put an end to that poor statistic. Staines came into this fixture having won four of their last six league games and strikers Mark Butler and Nick Hooper were full of confidence and looked lively in the opening forty-five minutes. In the third minute Hooper almost had an early opening when David Everitt’s cross looked to have set him up but Stuart Bamford made a perfectly timed interception to avoid the danger. The scenario was repeated at the other end shortly afterwards when Paul Mills found Lee Tunnell in a dangerous position and the saviour this time was Staines centre back Mark Costello. In the thirteenth minute Mark Gill played the ball into the path of Tunnell and this time the Uxbridge striker was able to get a shot in which wasn’t far over. Two minutes later though Staines came desperately close to taking the lead when Butler headed against the outside of a post from a Everitt cross. The Reds almost took the lead themselves though a couple of minutes later when Gill headed over from close range after a Mills cross had set up a good chance. The Uxbridge defence made things difficult for themselves in the twentieth minute. Gavin Bamford played a suicidal ball across his own area, which Hooper gladly received, but Stuart Bamford was alert to the danger and put in a fine tackle to retrieve possession. As the half progressed though Staines began to dominate. In the twenty fifth minute Hooper’s cross set Butler up with acres of time and space but his volley was woefully miss hit and sailed well wide. However that proved to be just a sighter and three minutes later Craig Reilly’s cross was brilliantly dummied by Hooper to allow Butler a clear sight at goal and this time the speed and precision of his volley left Daryl Pelton stationary as the ball hit the back of the net. Chris Moore had a couple of half chances in the closing stages of the first period, the latter a decent glancing header which was only narrowly wide, but the Reds found it tough going trying to get a foothold back into the match. The second half started slowly with neither side particularly impressive in the early exchanges. Just before the hour Uxbridge created an excellent opening when Steve Walters played a diagonal pass into the path of Gill leaving him with just Matthew Lovett in the Staines goal to beat but the Uxbridge captain wasn’t able to get the ball under control and Lovett saved at his feet. Moore shot at Lovett after Gill had sent him away on the left on seventy one minutes as Uxbridge continued in their search for an equaliser and began to up the tempo. Staines could have sealed the game on seventy seven minutes though when Hooper broke away and only a combination of Kevin Cleary and Pelton kept him out. A minute later at the other end Uxbridge again had a golden opportunity to draw level when Moore’s cross found Gavin Bamford unmarked six yards out but the ball wouldn’t come down for him and the Staines defence cleared. A few minutes later Tunnell’s shot looked to be heading for the back of the net before Lovett stuck out a foot to keep his side in front and although Uxbridge continued to press in the closing ten minutes they weren’t able to put an end to their goalscoring drought and thus there was no festive cheer this year for the Honeycroft faithful.

UXBRIDGE: Pelton, Mills (B.Bamford 77), S.Bamford, K.Cleary, Granville, G.Bamford, S.Walters (J.Cleary 77), Gill, Tunnell, Moore, Clark. Sub not used: Carter

STAINES TOWN: Lovett, Underwood, D.Walters, Costello (Battams 45), Harte, Terry (Glynn 86), Reilly, Hayward, Butler, Hooper (Sullivan 86), Everitt.