Willenhall may have picked up the three points needed to overhaul their 10 point deficit but it was marred by striker Nathan Coward suffering a broken leg.

Stamford started the brighter of the two UniBond Division One South sides, with Phil Stebbing heading just over inside the opening 10 minutes.

The home side broke the deadlock on 16 minutes when  Stamford failed to deal with a high ball into their area and Jamall Pinnock nipped in to head the ball over the oncoming Danny Bircham into an empty net.

Stamford could have equalised five minutes later, when a corner from the right was flicked onto the head of Paul Malone, but his header was saved. Just after the half hour mark Willenhall could have doubled their lead.

Bircham came outside his area to deal with a long ball forward, but he could only head the ball back towards his own goal. Despite the best efforts of Pinnock he couldn’t keep the ball in play.

Five minutes into the second half the game was delayed for 35 minutes after a Malone challenge on Coward. The referee immediately showed Malone a red card and the match was held up while an ambulance took Coward to hospital.

After the long delay Anthony Boswell headed the ball into the net following Wills free kick, but the effort was ruled out for offside. After 54 minutes a good run from Adam Robins saw his long range shot saved.

Stamford’s 10 men almost equalised after 57 minutesbut the ball went over .

Willenhall: Jackson, Roofe, Robinson, Perry (Griffiths), Brown, Wills, Nicholls, Boswell, Coward (Green), Pinnock, Robins (Tasker).

Stamford: Bircham, Burton-Jones, Cobb, Chamberlain, Mal-one, Stevenson, Hook (Watson), Ellison, Stebbing (Beeson), Matson, Farrell (Miller).