Second half goals saw Lichfield City surrender their unbeaten league start against table-topping Walsall Wood.
Two strikes in as many minutes from Lewis Riley-Stewart and Jai Verma condemned Ivor Green’s men to their first Midland Football League Premier Division defeat of the season, despite a late consolation strike by Luke Keen.
Lichfield were given a glimpse of the task at hand in the opening minutes of the game when Luke Childs had to be alert to clear a header off the line.
The returning Jack Edwards tried to create a spark for City after 20 minutes when he sent Ethan Muckley away, but the striker failed to make a full connection and the chance came to nothing.
Max Dixon went closer as he forced a good save from Callum Smith in the Walsall Wood goal.
Lichfield were given a reprieve early in the second half when Sam Unitt rounded keeper James Beeson to net, but the strike was ruled out for offside.
The opening goal came on 55 minutes when Walsall Wood took advantage of poor marking from a corner saw a free header find Riley-Stewart for a tap in.
The lead was doubled when Verma fired home two minutes later.
Things almost went from bad to worse with 20 minutes to go when a foul saw the visitors handed a penalty, but the resulting strike was dragged wide of the target.
City grabbed a lifeline five minutes from the end as Keen found the net to make it 2-1.
Walsall Wood keeper Smith proved to be the hero late on as Lichfield went in search of a leveller as he produced a smart stop to keep the visitors in front.