With the teams in the Football League playing last night, it was a great opportunity for those currently heading the table in League Two to continue their early dominance, whilst at the bottom saw a chance for the strugglers to pull away from the drop zone and put pressure on the teams around them.
The round-up begins with two seven-goal thrillers starting with Fleetwood’s chance to close the gap on leaders Gillingham – they took on an equally in-form Port Vale side. Scorer of four goals the other weekend, Tom Pope opened the scoring for Vale with half an hour played and the travellers doubled their advantage minutes later through Ashley Vincent. A Junior Brown header before half time gave the hosts something to cheer about but three second-half goals in under 20 minutes wrapped up all three points for Port Vale. Pope scored his eighth of the season to make the score 3-1, before Vale ran rampant, with a Louis Dodds’ double. A late Fleetwood penalty, taken by Steven Gillespie was no more than a consolation – the Cod Army slip to fourth, whilst Vale leap frog them into second.
Meanwhile at the Proact Stadium it was also goals galore as Chesterfield were hoping to make it back-to-back wins against an Accrington Stanley side currently sitting nicely in the play-offs. The home side went ahead through who else but Jack Lester, before he turned provider for the Spireites second, three minutes later – teeing up for Marc Richards to head home. Accrington pulled one back through Rommy Boco with under half an hour played and a second half equaliser from Peter Murphy gave them some hope. It was Lester again who regained Chesterfield’s lead, setting up an exciting closing 20 minutes – particularly when Boco grabbed his second goal and a second equaliser for Accrington. But with only five minutes remaining Chesterfield snatched all three points: Terrell Forbes scoring his first goal for the club. Final score from the Proact Stadium: Chesterfield 4-3 Accrington.
Elsewhere five goals were shared between Exeter and Wycombe and Rotherham who took on Rochdale. Exeter move into third place following their 3-2 win over struggling Wycombe. Gareth Ainsworth put Wanderers ahead in the opening five minutes and they managed to hold onto their lead for a large part of the first half, until Arron Davies equalised for the Grecians. Wycombe regained the lead in the second half – a back post header for Dean Morgan – only for Exeter to equalise just minutes later: Jamie Cureton’s 15-yard shot getting the home side back in the game. And Exeter secured all three points when Danny Coles netted the winner with 20 minutes left to play.
Rotherham lost their first home game at their new stadium when they entertained Rochdale last night. Veteran striker Dele Adebola opened the scoring on the stroke of half time, firing into an empty net but Rotherham levelled the score on the hour mark through Alex Revell. It was the home side that then took the lead through striker Daniel Nardiello but Dale responded well and got a chance to equalise 10 minutes later after Jason Kennedy was sent tumbling in the penalty area. The resulting spot kick was taken by Bobby Grant and he duly stuck it away. Victory was sealed when Kevin McIntyre added to Rochdale’s goal tally, moving them up to 8th in the table; the Millers move down to 10th.
Bradford maintained their 100% home record also ending Morecambe’s unbeaten record on their travels, running out 3-1 victors. A Peter Hanson goal for the Bantams was enough in the first half. The score remained tight until the 80th minute – Kyel Reid doubling their lead to set-up a frantic finale. Morecambe must have thought they had hope when Jack Redshaw got a consolation but Bradford made it 3-1 in the dying minutes – a 20-yard free kick from Gary Jones hitting the back of the net and giving Bradford all three points.
There were also narrow victories for Cheltenham, beating free-falling Oxford 2-1; Gillingham remained top of the table after winning at home to Southend 1-0 in what was a controversial encounter. Barnet stay bottom of the league having lost 1-0 away to Aldershot and Torquay beat AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow by a solitary goal. The Dons have subsequently relieved both manager Terry Brown and his assistant Stuart Cash of their duties.
Tonight Burton Albion take on newcomers York, where a win for either side would take them into the playoffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment