Stockport County 3-2 Boston United

Jack Ryan and Kristian Dennis scored either side of a Carl Piergianni header before the break, with Dennis adding his second and County's third five minutes into the second half.

Dayle Southwell cut the deficit with seven minutes to play, but it was not enough to stretch the Pilgrims' run of undefeated matches on the road to five.

The Pilgrims' woes were compounded on the stroke of 90 minutes when Piergianni was handed a straight red card for a foul on Chris Sharp.

United boss Dennis Greene had opted to hand a full debut to on-loan Lincoln City goalkeeper Paul Farman ahead of kick-off, while Stefan Galinski, Jay Dowie and Rene Steer started too.

The tempo was quick in the early stages at Edgeley Park, with both sides going forward in pursuit of an opening goal.

United came close when Piergianni's looping header landed on the roof of the net from Jamie McGhee's deep corner while Farman produced solid handling to grab a half-chance from Ryan with Danny Hurst then saving easily from Southwell.

County edged in front on 21 minutes when RYAN arrived to bullet home Bobby Lofthouse's deep corner.

Scott Garner, operating up front, subsequently lifted his 12-yard shot too high following Rene Steer's driven cross.

Hurst then excelled to keep out Southwell's rising drive following McGhee's cutback but United were level from the resulting corner. McGhee delivered and PIERGIANNI arrived unmarked, against his old club, to power home the flag-kick.

The Hatters retook the lead a minute before the break and DENNIS arrived to bundle the ball home, from the centre of goal, following Scott Duxbury's cross from the left.

United were presented with a glorious chance a minute after the break when Southwell met Kaine Felix's inviting cross but crashed his shot straight at Hurst, with Garner slamming the rebound over the bar.

County capitalised and DENNIS steered home a miscued shot, despite suspiciously looking offside, to restore the home side's lead in the 50th minute.

United threw increasing numbers of men forward in search of a route back into the game and County continued to look a massive threat on the break.

The Pilgrims found the net on 83 minutes, with SOUTHWELL touching home from Piergianni's header following McGhee's deep free-kick, but they failed to create another meaningful chance in the closing stages.

After seeing Piergianni red-carded for a foul on substitute Sharp, United were indebted to debutant keeper Farman for brilliantly denying Dennis and Sharp deep into stoppage time to keep the deficit at one.

Stockport (4-3-3): Danny Hurst; Mark Lees, Danny Gregson, Stephen O'Halloran, Scott Duxbury; Chris Churchman, Richie Baker (Glenn Belezika 36), Bobby Lofthouse (Nathan Woolfe 56); Jack Ryan, Kristian Dennis, Scott Spencer (Chris Sharp 75). Subs (not used): Jordan Fagbola, Ian Ormson (gk).

Boston (4-3-3): Paul Farman; Zak Mills, Stefan Galinski (David Fallah 57), Carl Piergianni, Rene Steer; Jamie McGhee, Jay Dowie, Danny Meadows (Michael Hollingsworth 46); Kaine Felix (Jack Barlow 81), Scott Garner, Dayle Southwell. Subs (not used): Conor Marshall, Sam Vince (gk).

Referee: Tom Nield.

Attendance: 2,585.

PIC: Eric Brown.