ALNWICK Town crashed to their fourth league defeat in a row as they succumbed to a late Cramlington Town fightback, writes James Willoughby.

And the 2-1 defeat, their second away loss on the bounce, piled even more woe onto the St James' Park outfit as they slid further down the table.

Now sitting fifth from bottom and with a potential three-point deduction on the cards for failing to field a team last Saturday, Alnwick's current situation is a distant cry from late summer when they sat at the Premier Division summit.

And harshly, it was a deflection and a penalty, cruelly coming in the last 13 minutes, which helped heap a fresh dose of Alliance misery on Alnwick.

And the fact that both goals were scored by the league's top scorer, Jeff Fuller, will come as scant consolation for the St James' Park side.

The fact that the game kicked off 10 minutes late because the referee was late also added to Alnwick's frustrations.

But it had started so well for Mac and his troops.

Firstly, Alnwick managed to recover from last weekend's embarrassment of failing to cobble together 11 players for their trip to Tyneside by assembling a 14-strong squad for the Cramlington clash, including promising new signing Wayne Scott.

Then Alnwick, who have not won away since August, took the lead. After 26 minutes, Ian Common whipped in a cross from the right and Richard Brown took full advantage by heading in at the far post. But sadly that was as good as it got for Alnwick.

In a game badly affected by the wind, both teams battled against the elements and were restricted to very few chances.

However, Cramlington overcame the conditions and made it five home games without defeat thanks to Fuller's late brace.

The hosts grabbed an equaliser with a deflected effort before the Cramlington hit-man snatched the winner from 12-yards with eight minutes to go.

Fuller's penalty strike, his 19th league goal of the season, came as a result of a Neil Catlow handball, which subsequently saw the defender dismissed.

Ten-man Alnwick were unable to claw themselves back into the game and Cramlington glided to a league double over the St James' Park side.

After seeing Alnwick tumble to their fifth away league defeat of the season, Mac added: "Both teams tried to play good football but the wind spoilt the game and the two keepers were just spectators.

"We were comfortable and deserved the lead but they got a deflection and a penalty and when your luck is out everything goes against you."

Alnwick: B Brooks, C Henderson, N Catlow, A Tate, R Young, B Murray, I Common, G Patterson, R Brown, W Scott, D McCann. Subs: R Morton, M Openshaw, P Saunders.