Stevenage 2 Accrington Stanley 1

RORY Prendergast spent the night in hospital following a sickening collision with Stevenage skipper Steve Watson.

It was feared the Stanley midfielder had broken his collarbone after he lay motionless on the ground for almost five minutes.

Prendergast was stretchered off and taken to hospital, but was released yesterday after being treated for concussion. Fortunately for Stanley, he should be available to play Telford on Saturday.

It was a bad day all round as Accrington fell to their first defeat in a month at Broadhall Way.

John Coleman kept the same line-up that had defeated Hereford earlier in the week, but his side were dealt a severe double blow inside the first six minutes, when first Anthony Elding pounced onto a poorly headed clearance from Robbie Williams and crashed home an unstoppable shot from a tight angle.

Prendergast went off a minute later.

The manager was forced into change with Justin Jackson the man to come on, but not before he'd received a yellow card after words had been exchanged in the dug-out area.

Stanley nearly found themselves two down as the home side looked impressive going forward, with Steve Hollis the man denying Dino Maamria, clearing off the line after he'd rounded Jon Kennedy, but the Reds should have pulled a goal back immediately when Jackson put Lutel James in on goal with his first touch. A brilliant stop from Lionel Perez though kept the home side in the lead.

The game continued to ebb and flow, from end to end, Nathan Bunce forcing a diving save from Kennedy with a header, and a resolute Stanley forced an equaliser on 30 minutes when Paul Mullin forced the ball home from close range as the Boro defence failed to deal with Peter Cavanagh's neatly floated free-kick.

It was a well deserved strike but merely spurred the home side into action, and Elding first crashed a header off the cross bar, before giving his side the lead when Kennedy made a hash of Michael Warner's cross, to sweep the ball home from six yards.

The second half saw Stevenage with the majority of possession and territorial advantage, but Stanley created more chances and looked more likely to score.

Andy Gouck had a cross-shot cleared off the line by Barry Laker, before supporting a James break, this time seeing his shot pop comfortably into the arms of Perez.

Stanley weren't helped by referee Mr McDermid, who ended up booking six Reds, which will cost the club £1,000 in fines. It just wasn't that sort of game though, a sentiment highlighted by a furious John Coleman after the game.

With time ticking by, Stanley really should have bagged a deserved equaliser, but again Perez, who had been much the busier of the two keepers, denied James with an excellent block when through on goal, and that was to be the last chance of a highly entertaining match.

Stevenage Borough: Perez; Warner, Flynn, Bunce, Laker; Travis (Travis 73), Cook, Watson, Gould; Elding, Maamria (Battersby 85). Subs not used: Shamlian, Brennan.

Accrington Stanley: Kennedy; Cavanagh, Hollis, Williams, Smith; Proctor, Gouck (Durnin), Cook, Prendergast (Jackson 14 (Calcutt 77)); James, Mullin. Subs not used: Speare, Armstrong.