Carlton Town collected their fourth win in six on Saturday afternoon to move level on points with third place Belper Town, with two games in hand, and a point behind second place Hebburn Town, with a game in hand, following a hard-fought, 2-1 win, at home to bottom club, Winterton Rangers.

Goalless at the break, a penalty from Alex Hardwick, early in the second period, afforded the Notts club the lead, only for the visitors to level proceedings twelve minutes later courtesy of an Alex Hernanadez effort just after the hour mark; with the game looking like it was heading for a draw, it would be Carlton that would snatch a valuable three points when Khyle Sargent grabbed the winner in the last minute.

Carlton Town – Nykah Liburd-Hines, Ryan Ebanks, Lewis Durow, Daniel Brown, Dean Freeman, Michael Ford, David Adegbola, Khyle Sargent, Alex Hardwick, Alex Howes, Niall Hylton

In the NPL Premier however, and despite leading through an early Jordan Burrow goal, Worksop Town slipped to a 2-1 defeat when home to Ilkeston Town.

Sherwood Colliery have slipped to second in the United Counties League Premier North, two points behind new leaders Lincoln United, who’ve also got a game in hand, the Colliery having been held to a goalless draw at the weekend when home to fellow promotion candidates, Skegness Town.

Eastwood CFC also have promotion aspirations, and, although sitting just outside the play-offs, they found themselves held to a 2-2 draw away to Boston Town, Alexander Troke with a brace for the Red Badgers who finished with ten following the late dismissal of Ryan Tinsley.

In the bottom half of the table, AFC Mansfield won by the odd-goal-in-seven when away to Wisbech Town, Kaylum Mitchell’s second half brace affording them a valuable, three points and saw them move above a Kimberley Miners Welfare side who were beaten 3-2 away to Belper United; Newark 7 Sherwood United won 3-1 at home to Melton Town as Liam Moran scored twice, and bottom club Hucknall Town suffered their sixteenth loss in twenty-one league games, losing 3-0 at home to Deeping Rangers.

As for the UCL Division One, leaders Bourne Town opened up a twelve point advantage at the top after they saw off visiting Clipstone, who hold second place, 3-0; with Newark (inactive) sitting in third, Dunkirk, with games in hand on sides above them, are seventh following a comfortable, 6-1 win, at home to Holwell Sports, George Harrison and Jack Thatcher both bagging braces.

Radford sit directly beneath Dunkirk following their narrow, 2-1 win at home to Blackstones, whilst there was successes for the mid-table pairing of Gedling Miners Welfare, 3-2 over visiting Selston, and Clifton All Whites, 4-2 away to Harrowby United; Zachary Hill bagged the winner for Gedling, whilst Christopher Okoye and Calum Law both bagged braces for Clifton.

In the remaining games West Bridgford and Sandiacre Town both suffered 2-0 losses, whilst Adam Parry’s treble helped Kirby Muxloe to a 5-0 win at Rainworth Miners Welfare.

Both Retford sides suffered defeat when on the road in the Northern Counties East Division One, the Coughs losing 4-0 away to Louth Town, and the Badgers dropping to a late penalty, 1-0 loss, at Selby Town.

A handful of clubs were in action in the Central Midlands Alliance as SJR Worksop were held to a 2-2 draw away to Hatfield Town, Luke Tong and Chad Lake netting, and Woodhouse Colts were beaten 3-0 away to Yorkshire Main, in the Premier North; and in the Premier South, Joe Butler netted twice for Linby Colliery Welfare as they won 3-0 at home to Arnold Town, and Mansfield Hosiery Mills went down 4-1 at home to Melbourne Dynamo.

In the Nottinghamshire Senior League Premier Division meanwhile, Stapleford Town, 8-2 winners away to Radcliffe Olympic, Aaron Large with three and Alex Beno two, have a healthy, thirteen-point advantage at the top, although joint-second Wollaton and Collingham both have three games in hand.

Wollaton slipped up when away to Woodthorpe Park Rangers, whilst Collingham just edged past hosts Awsworth Villa; other results in the NSL saw Cotgrave defeat Keyworth United 3-0 under the Friday Night Lights, along with wins for AFC Dunkirk, Southwell City Reserves, and Borrowash Victoria.

Elsewhere in the NSL, Division One sees FC Cavaliers lead FCV Grace Dieu by a point, the second placed side having a game in hand, Colsterworth Sports & Social Club head up Division Two with a three points, three game advantage on Rushcliffe, and Division Three is jointly led by that of Arnold Town Reserves and Gedling Southbank, whilst Elston United are third, three points off, with a game in hand.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @worksoptownfc Worksop were beaten by Ilkeston in front of a crowd of over 900.