BENNY Phillips will be under no illusions about the task facing Radcliffe Borough in their quest to stave off relegation from the Evo-Stik Division North after Tuesday night’s 5-2 home defeat to Garforth Town.

It was a disappointing night for the new manager at Stainton Park following Saturday’s encouraging 1-0 win at Lancaster City, where goalkeeper Nick Culkin distinguished himself with a man-of-the-match performance.

Boro looked to be continuing where they left off on Tuesday when Tom Brooks put the hosts ahead in the 20th minutes.

By then Garforth goalkeeper Ben Higginson had already pulled off two outstanding saves from Ben Wharton and Brooks, and he carried on his heroics after the Brooks goal to keep his side in the hunt.

The game turned on its head, however, as Radcliffe self-destructed in three minutes before the interval.

Debutant defender Kiel O’Brien lunged in on Chris Howarth to concede a penalty and the Yorkshire forward promptly got up to fire Garforth level from the spot on 28 minutes.

Boro continued to press but winger David Brown was always a threat on the break. And so it proved threee minutes later when the visitors sucked Boro in and Brown ran away to supply an inch-perfect cross to put Garforth into the lead.

When Adam Priestley made it 3-1 with a low shot in the 57th minute, it looked like the floodgates might open up.

But Ben Wharton underlined his undoubted class as a striker with a stunning strike almost straight from the kick-off with a 20-yard shot which went in off Higginson’s post.

Any hopes of a Boro comeback were dashed when Priestley completed his hat-trick with goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes to make it a thoroughly miserable night for Phillips’s men.

It was a result which made it all the more important that they left Lancaster three days earlier with all three points.

The only goal of the game came when Ali Brown crossed for Wharton to finish inside the six-yard box.

Lancaster laid siege to Boro’s goal in the second half and they came close on numerous occasions, only for the woodwork and the outstanding Culkin to thwart them.