Conference North Review 15 November

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Mid-November and County sitting in the play-off zone with games in hand on most of their nearest competitors for a play-off place. Another positive day in the Vanarama Conference North. Aside from County's result the other key scoreline in their move up to 5th place came at Boston United. Neither the Pilgrims nor visitors Chorley could find the net allowing County to leap-frog over both clubs.

County's next target is 4th place Solihull Moors. The Midlands side kept their single point advantage thanks to a best of 5 goals encounter at Bradford Park Avenue. Avenue must have been hopeful when Chib Chilaka (2) gave them an early lead. But Moors turned it round by half-time with Liam Daly (26) equalising before League top scorer Omar Bogle (33 & 45) ended his two game shut-out with a brace. Dan Clayton (77) pulled a goal back for the home side but it wasn't enough to get anything out of the game.

Free scoring Omar Bogle
At the top Barrow increased their lead as AFC Fylde failed to return to winning ways. The only surprising thing about Barrow's result was that it came via a single goal against struggling Stalybridge Celtic. The goal came early on through Jason Walker (5) and after that the near 1,400 crowd hunkered down in hope of something else to celebrate - although most of them would have been happier in the 32nd minute when the visitors had Aidan Chippendale sent off.

Aidan Chippendale.
AFC Fylde travelled across the country to visit North Ferriby United and came back with a single point. The goals came in a four minute spell early in the second half. Firstly Liam Tomsett (53) scored to give the promotion chasing side the lead, but Nathan Jarman (56) soon made it 1-1.

Guiseley got a good away win to draw level on points with Fylde, both just 3 ahead of the Hatters. Gloucester City shared the spoils in the first half as Nathan Modest (45) scored virtually on half-time after a Matt Williams own goal (9) had put Guiseley in front. It was the visitors who found the vital goals in the second half the first coming though Ryan Toulson (47) before Adam Boyes (90) finished things off.

Adam Boyes- winner for Guiseley !
The result left Gloucester still in the drop zone as they failed to take advantage of defeats for the three teams directly above them.

I've already mentioned the result of one of those clubs, namely Bradford, meanwhile  Tamworth are still one place ahead of Gloucester after losing 3-2 on the east coast. Lowestoft Town established a two goal lead through a Jack Ainsley (34) penalty, after a handball from former County man Javan Vidal, and Robert Eagle (63). Their visitors then made a game of it by pulling the scores level after Brendon Daniels (71) and Michael Townsend (76) scored. The winner in an entertaining match came 4 minutes later when Eagle scored his second.

Meanwhile Brackley Town also lost out on their travels. They made the trip to Oxford City where they were undone by a brace of goals from City's top scorer Adi Yussuf (24 & 68). Shaun Jeffers (27) had levelled the scores soon after Oxford's opener.

Bottom club Hyde, saw Harrogate Town score with relative ease through James Walshaw (8), David McGurk (10) and Dominic Rowe (37) to establish a 3-0 half-time lead. Louie Swain (79) added a fourth before a penalty converted by Connor Hughes in the closing minutes gave Hyde no real consolation.

Top scorers on the day were Gainsborough Trinity, winning their home match with Colwyn Bay 6-3. Wesley Baynes (20) put Bay ahead but Paul Beesley (21) quickly levelled things and Simon Russell (36) gave the home side the lead. This time the opposition response took two minutes as Rob Hopley levelled. Things switched over again when Bay retook the lead through Tom Buckley (52), but Trinity knuckled down in the last half hour. Tom Davie (63), Beesley (79), Jake Picton (83) and Russell (89) gave Gainsborough a run-away win, in the third Conference North game of the season to feature 9 goals.

The final game of the day saw Worcester City claim the three points against Leamington. The goals came during the last 15 minutes of normal time with Nick Wright (76) and Graham Hutchison (80) giving the home side a 2 goals lead before Danny Newton's goal on 88 minutes gave the City fans some late worries.

CURRENT TABLE

The updated table.

Pos PL W D L F A GD PT
1 Barrow 16 11 3 2 34 15 19 36
2 AFC Fylde 15 10 2 3 36 12 24 32
3 Guiseley 17 9 5 3 32 19 13 32
4 Solihull Moors 16 9 3 4 38 21 17 30
5 COUNTY 16 9 2 5 31 21 10 29
6 Chorley 16 8 4 4 27 20 7 28
7 Boston U 17 8 4 5 27 25 2 28
8 Oxford C 19 8 4 7 36 38 -2 28
9 Hednesford T 18 7 5 6 26 21 5 26
10 North Ferriby U 16 6 6 4 26 22 4 24
11 Worcester C 16 6 6 4 18 18 0 24
12 Harrogate T 17 6 4 7 21 22 -1 22
13 Colwyn Bay 17 5 6 6 26 29 -3 21
14 Gainsborough Tr 17 6 3 8 26 29 -3 21
15 Lowestoft T 17 5 5 7 17 27 -10 20
16 Leamington 16 5 3 8 23 26 -3 18
17 Brackley T 16 4 4 8 11 24 -13 16
18 Bradford PA 17 4 4 9 23 37 -14 16
19 Tamworth 16 2 9 5 19 26 -7 15
20 Gloucester C 16 3 6 7 23 33 -10 15
21 Stalybridge Cel 17 3 4 10 17 29 -12 13
22 Hyde 18 1 4 13 22 45 -23 7


Attention now turns to Tuesday night when in the three scheduled matches the teams from 3rd to 7th are all in action. County take their senior side to Chorley for the first time since March 1900. The two sides directly above the Hatters meet at Guiseley whilst Boston United will be looking to get back above County if they can win at Gainsborough Trinity.


Ian Watts


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