Heath Hayes inflicted a morale-sapping defeat on Saints at the Coppice Colliery Ground on Saturday and, while it is too early to write off their promotion chances, they have been left with a mountain to climb if they are to close the gap on the Midland Combination Premier pacesetters.
Too many players again failed to perform and three goals were no less than Heath Hayes deserved.
But for a number of saves from returning keeper Ollie Manuel, the margin of defeat would have been much greater and he was one of only a few players
who can look back on their performance with any satisfaction.
Saints started slowly and were under pressure right from the kick-off.
With less than a minute on the clock, Chris Deakin was clean through and Manuel had to race to the edge of the penalty area to save with his legs. The ball ran loose to Ben Haseley who put his shot wide.
Heath Hayes were immediately back in the Saints half, with Alan Haycock crossing from the right but again, Deakin failed to take the chance on offer.
With Saints seemingly unable to get any momentum going, a free-kick by Ashley Perry went just wide and Deakin then spurned yet another opportunity.
It took until the 19th minute for Saints to get a shot on goal when Jim Graham cut in from the right and tested Adam Lane low down by the near post.
But, just a minute later, Manuel was beaten by Deakin, who latched onto a loose ball and scored from close range.
While Saints started the second half much brighter, they failed to gain control of the midfield and were open to attacks down the wings.
Deakin saw his 52nd-minute shot from the edge of the penalty area comfortably saved by Manuel, but he was on hand five minutes later to meet a precision cross from the right by Haycock and net his 27th goal of the season.
Manager Barry Shearsby made three substitutions to improve the attack, but his side could have been three down on 80 minutes when McKinley failed to gather a long ball out of the home defence and Haseley brought out another good save from Manuel.
At the other end, Tom Friend, back in the side after a long absence, was set up by Danny Adams, but failed to get a clean shot on goal when well placed.
It was all over by the shouting in the first minute of added time as substitute Craig Young raced from inside his own half to cut in from the right and beat Manuel with a fierce shot just inside the near post.
A disappointed Shearsby said: "As with Racing Club on Boxing Day, we got what we deserved and can have no complaints about the result.
"Without taking anything away from Heath Hayes, we haven't played competitively for nearly a month and it showed. Our distribution was poor and, although we had a couple of chances for a goal in the second half, the better side won."
Saints crashed out of the Birmingham County Midweek Floodlit Cup on Wednesday night as Bartley Green inflicted a third successive defeat on Shearsby's under-performing team.
On a difficult pitch and with a strong wind to contend with, Saints never looked like coming away with a victory.
A goal in each half saw the home side comfortably into the semi-finals.
The loss means Saints are on their worst run since October and the team is in need of an urgent lift if their season is not to collapse completely.
Saints are back in league action tomorrow when Pelsall Villa visit Banbury Road (3pm) for the two sides' first meeting of the season.
