On his 100th Stamford appearance Sean Wright, who was superb at the back to earn the Daniels’ a second clean sheet in a row, was the first to take aim at the home goal. He rose highest to meet a Billy Bennett free-kick but his dipping header struck the bar with Will Mellors-Blair unable to force home the rebound. Stamford continued a spell of early pressure in the fourteenth minute, with Brown-Hill releasing Mellors-Blair on a sharp counterattack. With Harry Vince in support, Mellors-Blair opted to shoot but could not find the target. It was twenty minutes into the game before the home side had their first chance of note as Miracle Okafor headed wide of Dan Wallis’s right-hand post.

Just a minute later and the Sporting Khalsa striker had another good opportunity, following a slip from the Stamford number-one, however an excellent recovery from Mikey Armstrong prevented any danger from occurring. Following this, Stamford looked to regain their foothold following a strong start with Billy Bennett shooting over from a short Jake Duffy free-kick. With half-an-hour played the Daniels’ had their breakthrough with Joe Burgess winning the ball with a strong challenge in midfield before playing the ball out to the right. A pin-point cross picked out Bennett, who despite arriving at speed managed to guide the ball past Sam Arnold in the home goal.

The persistent pressure continued a few minutes later, with Harry Vince arriving at the edge of the box but he put his shot just wide. Just minutes later Brown-Hill was played in down the left however his cross was prevented from reaching an unmarked Mellors-Blair before bouncing into the keeper’s arms. However, a similar run from Brown-Hill was to lead to a well-deserved second just moments later. With what surely must be a goal of the season contender Brown-Hill spotted the home number one off his line, and deftly executed a lob from 25 yards out. The home side finished the half the brighter, as they looked to change both manager’s team talks. First James McGrady received the ball down the left-hand side, however despite there being plenty of support in the middle, he was unable to pick anyone out with the ball going out for a goal-kick. Just before the half-time whistle, Khalsa reacted faster to a misplaced goal-kick however Toumani Sidibe was unable to find the target.

The home side started the second half like they finished the first. Just seconds into the half they won a corner, but once again failed to hit the target. A minute later Sidibe blazed a shot way over the bar. Sporting Khalsa’s half-time substitute Sean Williams was a bright spark in the home side, adding energy to their right-hand side however his 52nd-minute strike was deflected into the side-netting. From the resulting corner Miracle Okafor header went well over. The pressure continued to be piled on by the home side, however the Daniels’ defence continued to hold strong. A long ball from the back found Liam Armstrong but despite looking to catch Dan Wallis out with an early strike he could not beat the visiting stopper.

Armstrong was once again involved as Sean Wright was in the right place at the right time as he blocked the strike on the line. The Daniels’ looked to return to the ascendancy as Brown-Hill once again looked sharp. However, his attempt at bettering his first-half strike went wide of the target. Sidibe once again was involved for the home side however Wallis was sharp in goal to smother any chance of Khalsa getting back into the game. In the last ten minutes, with Khalsa committing bodies forward to chase the game, they looked vulnerable to the counter-attack however some quality last-ditch defending prevented Tom Waumsley and then Rob Morgan advancing in-on-goal. The final chance of the game nearly saw the Daniels’ have a third as some sharp interplay saw Isaac Currie play the ball to Charlie Coppola before playing a one-two with Waumsley. Following this Coppola beat a defender before shooting just wide.