FC Isle of Man had a late effort cleared off the line as they were narrowly beaten by promotion chasing Chadderton.
With results elsewhere going their way, the Ravens are one point from mathematical safety in the NWCFL Premier Division.
Chaddy arrived at The Bowl in third looking to extend their 11 game unbeaten streak led by the league’s top scorer Lewis-Simon Byrne.
After Byrne dragged a shot wide in the 8th minute, he made struck moments later to net his 51st goal of the season when reacting quickest when Mark Blair made a save to deny Connor High.
Byrne held his nerve to control the ball in the box, swerve a block challenge from Harry Best and tap into the empty net to make it 0-1.
After a tight first half with only limited half chances opening up for either side, Byrne almost added a second when he rattled a half cleared corner off the bar.
Second Half
With the game refusing to open up, chances were still at a premium in the second half, but Byrne would be the man to score the second as he burst through the Ravens back line just before the 70th minute.
Nodding past the back line, he rushed through and while Blair got a big hand to the ball, he could do nothing to stop it trickling into the corner, with Byrne bagging his 52nd goal of the season.
With Chaddy looking to see the game out, a brilliant ball from Kyle Watson picked out Ste Whitley burst into the box from out wide, he chested it down and showed great composure to pick out Sammy Gelling, who slotted home into the far corner.
As the Ravens went hunting for an equaliser, Callum Sherry almost turned the unlikely hero when a corner dropped to him in the box, but his volley was deflected just over.
With Chadderton making their first dangerous attack since their second goal, the Ravens had Blair to thank for keeping them in the game as he made a brilliant double stop to deny Anis Benoussaid and Byrne.
Diving down to his left to stop Benoussaid’s effort, he got up and spread himself big to deny Byrne with a help from Jacob Crook who slid in to get a well timed touch to slow the ball down.
The Ravens, now down to 10 men with Higgins sin binned, came within centimetres of drawing level as a corner was headed goal wards by Carl Clark and cleared off the line by a Chadderton defender.
With the ball lifted back in, Clark again rose highest, but this time his effort was saved by Culkin to secure the three points for Chadderton.
The Ravens are back in action next weekend for the visit of Cheadle Town.
