HOLYHEAD Hotspur were unable to cause a stir at the Huws Gray Alliance summit as they fell to a narrow 1-0 home loss to Holywell Town.

The Holy Islanders were made to pay for a lack of conviction in-front of goal in what was their seventh second tier defeat in 17 contests, and Campbell Harrison’s men will look to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they entertain Guilsfield on January 20.

The Wellmen began the game on the front foot and almost went ahead on five minutes when striker Steve Lewis blazed over, while at the other end stopper Shaun Pearson had to make a fine save to his right to deny John Littlemore.

Dean Garmey was the next Spurs player to test Pearson when his free-kick from 20 yards brought another good save out of Pearson, and they had the perfect chance to open the scoring when Mike Kelly was felled in the box to give them a penalty on 25 minutes.

Unfortunately for the hosts, Kenleigh Owen was unable to convert and saw his spot kick brilliantly diverted by Pearson.

Littlemore spurned another opportunity just before the break when his effort sailed over, and Town forward Sam Jones also fluffed his lines when presented with an opportunity to ensure both sides had all to play for at the interval.

Johnny Haseldin’s side came out with a renewed sense of purpose after the restart and took a crucial lead on 52 minutes when skipper Steve Thomas unleashed a ferocious effort past Paul Pritchard following a sensational team move for what turned out to be the only goal of the contest.

The away side had chances to seal the tie when Lewis and Mark Winslade missed the target after more neat approach play, but the outstanding Pearson had the final saw when he kept out Tomos Clarke to condemn the home side to defeat.