Chasetown FC saw their title hopes suffer a setback as they went down 4-0 at home to Stamford.
The Scholars entered a critical month with games against teams fifth, first and second in the league, and started brightly as they looked to make it eight wins in a row with an early Jack Langston effort flying over the bar.
But it was Stamford who took the lead in the 26th minute when the league’s joint leading scorer Jonathan Margetts capitalised on some defensive hesitancy to fire beyond Curtis Pond.
The Lincolnshire side had two opportunities to extend their lead after the break with both falling to Jack Duffy. Five minutes after the restart he dragged a good chance wide of the post, before seeing a low effort saved by Pond 15 minutes later.
It was no surprise when Stamford added their second. The home defence failed to deal with a quick attack and Cosmos Matwasa netted to extend the lead.
In front of a bumper 587 crowd, Chasetown hardly threatened the visiting keeper Daniel Haystead.
A calamitous third goal killed the game ten minutes from the end. Pond was out of his goal and despite a couple of clearances from Ryan Wynter, substitute Jon Challinor fired home through a crowd of players.
Tendai Chitiza rounded off an emphatic victory for the visitors with a fourth goal in the 90th minute.