HOLYHEAD Hotspur remain bottom of the Huws Gray Alliance standings after a 3-1 loss at fellow strugglers Denbigh Town.

The Holy Islanders were unable to build on a positive start which saw them take the lead at Central Park and had nothing to show for their efforts after an action-packed contest.

Darren Garmey’s side are now six points from safety ahead of their daunting trip to runaway leaders Airbus Broughton on Saturday (1pm), who have won each of their 13 league games so far and hold a commanding 12-point advantage at the summit.

The home side went close to opening the scoring on two occasions early on when Mark Roberts and Curtis Langton both forced Carl Jones into smart stops, but the visitors managed to draw first blood on the half hour mark when prolific striker Marc Evans converted from the penalty spot.

Town keeper Craig Vernon was injured in the collision that led to the spot kick, and with no substitute stopper on the bench outfield player Lewis Sirrell was called upon by Matthew Jones and Dewi Llion to deputise in the position.

Sam Jones replaced Vernon and had an immediate impact on proceedings, levelling matters with his first notable contribution when he prodded in the rebound after Jones had earlier kept out an effort from Pat Hinchcliffe.

After the break saw Sirrell pull of a series of impressive saves to keep the scores level, and the hosts went ahead for the first time in the contest on 65 minutes when Hinchcliffe fired in a neat volley from just inside the area.

Spurs’ prospects of securing a point were virtually over after Jones was dismissed late on, and the home side made sure of the points in stoppage time when Tony Davies scored from the spot after an infringement on Jake Walker.

The visitors felt the ball had not crossed the line and following protestations, Dan McGuiness departed after picking up a second yellow card.