After a bright start, Weston faded badly in the second half and went down to a first defeat in five meetings at Woodside Park.

After releasing Cedric Abraham and Ludovic Quistin, new Weston manager Andy Gurney had on-loan Bristol Rovers man Tom Parrinello in defence and the visitors dominated first-half proceedings.

Marc McGregor, twice, Ben Wells and Ashan Holgate all tested home keeper Nicky Eyre, but Stortford took the lead on 28 minutes in their first real attack. Duane Jackman sent on-loan West Ham striker Lewis Smith through to beat Ryan Northmore for a debut goal.

However, a minute later Weston were back on terms when Holgate's cross from the left was knocked back across goal by Mark McKeever for McGregor to score from close range.

As Weston faded in the second half, Stortford took control. The winner came on 72 minutes when Weston were down to 10 men with Ben Willshire being treated on the sideline. Marlon Patterson's free-kick was not properly cleared and Danny Green beat Northmore from 18 yards.

Near the end, there was a nasty melee involving most of the two teams resulting in Patterson and Harlee Dean for Stortford and Weston substitute Ryan Paddock being yellow-carded by Bedford referee Gavin Mudge.