After the heroics against Shildon, it was a bad day at the office for Rob Hunter's side who struggled to find the quality needed to prevail against their higher-division opponents who were never really put under the cosh.

In the only change to Town's lineup, Alex Low returned to the side to partner Mike Morris at centre-back, replacing Lee Turner. Another milestone was reached yesterday when Adam Priestley made his 100th appearance for the club.

With Rob Hunter's side largely failing to find their front men, our visitors enjoyed most of the possession and chances first half. The first one fell to Connor Hughes two minutes in when he curled a shot narrowly over the crossbar. Down the other end Adam Porritt saw his strike deflected wide, then the visitors found the net on 12 mins when Max Hazeldine nodded home Aidan Chippendale's delivery, but was offside. Connor Hughes put a glancing header wide from Chippendale's corner, before putting another header wide shortly after.

Town's first shot on target arrived on 17 mins when Adam Priestley's shot was easily claimed by Hakan Burton in the Colne goal after good work by Joe Colley. Attacking midfielder Sam Barker (currently acting capably in a holding role) came to our rescue on 33 mins; blocking on the line Andrew Hollins' powerful drive. There was another Priestley chance two minutes later when he forced a stop at the near post from Burton, but few in the ground were surprised when The Reds took the lead on 39 mins. With The Miners unable to clear their lines, the ball fell to captain Lee Pugh who fired low across Wells into the bottom corner.

It was left to Mike Morris to keep the half time score to one when he blocked on the line Anthony Donaldson's effort after towering centre-forward Sefton Gonzales held the ball up.

Garforth needed an improvement, but within ten minutes of the restart the game was pretty much over.

Hazeldine made it 2-0 on 51 mins with a cracking strike into the top corner when played in from the right wing. With Town again failing to clear their lines, it was three four minutes later when Richard Baker fired into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Whilst it made little difference to the final outcome, the fourth goal came amid some controversy on 62 mins. From a Colne throw-in which clearly should have been given Town's way, Chippendale got on the end of a poor back-header to round Wells and easily find the net.

Wells kept the score down on 64 mins, making a good stop at the near post to deny substitute William Hasler-Cregg.

As seen at Knaresborough on Tuesday, when getting the ball down and playing football, Garforth did better. Mark Simpson was in with a good chance when getting on the end of Barker's ball forward, but his first touch let him down, allowing Burton to easily gather. Priestley saw a shot saved moments later after making a foray in from the left, then the striker had another sniff of goal on 76 mins with a 20-yard drive which was just off-target.

A first defeat in six for The Miners and one to consign to the history books. With no Bank Holiday or midweek action, our next game is next Saturday in the FA Vase when make the journey to Chester-le-Street Town (kick-off 3pm).