RADCLIFFE surrendered top spot in the Evo-Stik West table after slumping to a 2-1 defeat at Leek Town, who finished the game with 10 men.

Aaron Bott put the hosts ahead in the first half and Dan Trickett-Smith added the second 10 minutes before the break.

Louis Myers pulled one back for Boro early in the second half, and midway through the second half Leek’s Scott Lycett was dismissed.

But with no further goals Jon Macken’s men fell to a defeat that allowed Atherton Collieries to leapfrog them into top spot.

Both sides came into the match on the back of a great run of form, but it was the hosts who edged ahead, as Robert Stevenson found Bott at the far post to slide home inside 17 minutes.

Less than a minute later, there were appeals from the Boro bench when Tunde Owolabi looked to have been brought down inside the area by Marc Grocott, but the referee waved the appeals away.

Leek then doubled their lead on 35 minutes. A poor clearance from goalkeeper Ollie Martin found the feet of Trickett-Smith, and he drove a 45-yard shot in over the goalkeeper’s head.

Half-time substitute Elliot Rokka almost made an instant impact with a free-kick within 30 seconds of the restart, but his effort fizzed over the bar.

Radcliffe did pull one back 10 minutes later, however. Owolabi’s great solo run eventually found Myers running inside on the left to slot home a one-on-one chance.

The Blues then went down to 10 men on 67 minutes, Lycett receiving a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after the whistle had gone for a foul.

Boro continued to create opportunities with Myers going close to a second goal and a last-gasp header from Callum Grogan missing the right-hand post by a whisker.

“It’s a difficult place to come,” said Macken after his side’s fourth defeat of the campaign. “It’s hostile – they’re over the moon you can see it with the reaction after the game, jumping around singing like they’ve won the league and as I said to the players, it shows how much it means to teams to beat us.”