Aldershot Town's proud home record crumbled on Tuesday night as they were comprehensively beaten by champions-elect Accrington Stanley, in ultimately shambolic circumstances.
Indeed, it was just 45 minutes prior to kick-off that the players and supporters even knew there would be a match as the game finally got the go-ahead from referee Mr Bull.
Despite the poor conditions, and the fact that the assistant referee had called the game off at 4.30pm, the club insisted on waiting for the first official who was stuck in traffic, until the very last moment, before embarrassingly announcing that it was game-on at 7pm.
The result was a match that probably shouldn't have gone ahead, and one that the players and manager Terry Brown are almost certainly wishing hadn't.
“Hindsight's a wonderful thing, we tried desperately hard to get this game on. I felt confident going into it but we were undone by a forward line that murdered us,” said Brown.
It also undoubtedly contributed to the Shots breaking the barrier of their lowest home crowd with just over 1,600 turning up to watch their team.
For the Shots, the defeat brings to an end 810 unbeaten minutes at the Rec, in a woeful defensive perfomance that all but handed the League leaders the three points.
Certainly Accrington were the better side and deserved the three points, but any side gifted the goals as they were would have won on Tuesday night.
The visitors did look sharper than their hosts and indeed gave them a masterclass in passing and finishing, and lessons could indeed be learnt as Stanley look set to win the title after exactly the same amount of time in the Conference as the Shots.
“We were well beaten by the League champions, they showed their quality and class in finishing and thoroughly deserved to win, and win the Championship.
“The difference was their finishing and our defending, the goals we conceded were disappointing in the extreme. It's not a surprise that we're languishing in the bottom half because we've got the worst defensive record in the league,” said Brown.
Before kick-off, only bottom side Southport had a worse defensive record than the Shots, and this was yet another game where suicidal defending cost the home side dear, leaving Brown to go back to the drawing board.
He joked: “It would be nice to punch one or two of them but realistically most of them are bigger than me! We'll get back on Thursday and work on the defensive shape.”
With the boss having vowed to go all-out on the attack, it was somewhat of a surprise then to see striker Leroy Griffths on the bench.
However, it emerged that the striker had gone AWOL since the Morecambe victory with the boss admitting it was a surprise him even turning up for the game.
“Leroy's a problematic young lad, and the fact that he appeared tonight was magical enough. We've had words and he's been disciplined and hopefully he decide that we're the club he wants to spend the rest of the season with.
“The decision is in his hands, he has to train with us and work with us. I've got no problems with him out on the pitch, it's just trying to get him to turn up,” said Brown.
Whilst the manager's decision was undoubtedly the right one, with the striker coming on and scoring, you can't help but wonder what might have been different had Griffiths started on the pitch.
Despite this, and the awful conditions, the Shots started brightly, Lewis Hamilton threading a perfect ball for Crittenden to square to Holloway, only to see the ball cleared for a corner within the first minute.
A second corner was duly won and the Shots almost got a dream start as Ryan Scott powerfully headed towards goal only to see it cleared off the line by Michael Welch.
A long range shot from Crittenden was just wide, before Accrington hit back, David Brown's effort rebounded off the foot of the post with keeper Nikki Bull covering.
A shot from Darren Barnard also went wide but the Shots were certainly holding their own against the League leaders and in fact looked the more likely to score.
A fierce drive from 35 yards from Barnard stung the palms of keeper Robert Elliott, and from the corner Dixon's effort was hacked clear.
In what was shaping up to be a lively, entertaining game Accrington hit back. First Andy Todd easily got past Hamilton to fire from a too-tight angle, hitting only the post, before Bull made a good block with his legs to deny Gary Roberts.
Todd had another effort that rolled just wide of the post, but the Shots looked positive as the sides went into the break goalless.
Just four minutes into the second half however, Stanley made the breakthrough.
From an Aldershot corner, the ball was cleared out to Ian Craney who immediately set about running the length of the pitch. With no defence covering and Scott left chasing his shadow, the midfield man burst through to go one-on-one with Bull, and fired a shot past the keeper.
Immediately Brown responded taking off a largely ineffective Ryan Williams and replacing him with Griffiths.
And the striker almost made the difference with his first touch, linking up well with Holloway he turned and shot only to see the ball fire inches past the upright.
Barnard had a shot blocked by colleague Jonny Dixon, but Accrington were soon exerting their authority as they found a second.
Todd whipped in a low cross and every single Shots player in the box simply watched it pass them by.
Inevitably the ball found a totally unmarked Roberts who rifled home a shot just past the hour mark. Whilst revelling in their success can be accepted, Roberts' unecessary charge down the pitch to celebrate in front on the home dug-out and the home support certainly soured the celebration.
Six minutes later came the killer blow, and again the Shots' led their own downfall. Tobi Jinadu's back-header skewed off at an angle, forcing Bull out to collect, but substitute Andy Mangan was quickest to the ball, to round the keeper and slot into an empty net.
But the Shots still kept going, Dixon's shot on the edge of the box was blocked by Elliott, and for their efforts, they were rewarded when Crittenden's fantastic ball in was perfectly placed for Griffiths to smash home at the far post.
With ten minutes to go Stanley added their fourth —Roberts, again unmarked in the area somehow finding space between Bull and Hamilton on the post to put the ball in the net.
Crittenden forced Elliott into an excellent reaction save, before Dixon pounced on the rebound but his shot was deflected wide.
Bull blocked well from Mangan firing from close range late on, before Accrington were reduced to ten men, their time wasting tactics finally coming back to haunt them as Leam Richardson received his marching orders for a deliberate hand-ball — this after having earlier been booked for taking too long over a throw-in.
But it made little difference as just minutes later the whistle was blown on a match most will want to forget.
With thanks to the Aldershot News.