Video: Market Drayton 2 Stafford Rangers 3
Record takings and a rousing second-half revival were little consolation for Market Drayton Town's 3-2 defeat by title-chasing Stafford Rangers.
Town manager Martyn Davies said: "I've been far more disappointed by a match we've won than after losing this one.
"Win or lose, you want to play well – and this day we proved we can live with the best in our league.
"Everyone in the club knew this was a big day for us and helped create a great atmosphere.
"It's a pity that we, as a team, could not cap it all with a victory but I thought we acquitted ourselves really well against what's obviously this season's stand-out side.
"We battered them for periods of the second half – especially towards the end – and with a little luck might have won a point, as we did over there earlier in the season."
An official attendance of 395 almost doubled Drayton's league game crowd record and virtually quadrupled this season's normal Evo-Stik League South gate.
The vast majority were loudly delighted with the first half as Stafford established a two-goal lead through their formidable twin strikers, Ben Haseley and Christian Dacres.
Sharp and speedy, Haseley snapped up an untidy half-chance on 33 minutes but the Dacres strike, just before half-time, was a classy affair, the ball being slid home from a stylish build-up down the left.
In contrast, there was a stunned silence in the second-half, as Drayton scored twice in four minutes to throw the contest wide open.
Michael MacKintosh's superb through pass put in speedy James Bennett-Tindall for their opener on the hour.
And James O'Neill capped a lively effort leading the attack by equalising with a free-kick that left goalkeeper Adam Whitehouse stranded.
Both sides had their chances in an end-to-end grandstand finish.
Alex Melbourne hit Drayton's bar and Josh Green cleared Dacres' header off the line while at the other end, Whitehouse spectacularly denied Cohen Bramall and Tyrrell McFarlane at full stretch.
But, ultimately, it was an outrageous 77th-minute Jamie Vardy-style back-heel flick by Haseley that settled it, redirecting Peter Till's pass to Dacres.
It kept Rangers seven points clear at the top of the table, with Shaw Lane Aquaforce now their only likely challengers.
Dacres still had to steer the ball through attempted goal-line interceptions by Paul McMullen and Michael O'Reilly but it was done robustly and effectively – very much a characteristic of Rangers.
