Third placed Basford United closed the gap at the top of the table in the BetVictor Northern Premier League after a 3-2 home win over Ashton United on an afternoon where top of the table South Shields and second placed Lancaster City dropped points to United\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n
With the top two drawing in their respective games Steve Chettle\u2019s men closed the gap to within one point on Lancaster and just two from South Shields thanks largely to a second half brace by Jack Thomas.<\/p>\n
Thomas netted on 54 before scoring again on 66 but Josh Wilson converted a penalty two minutes later to pull the score back to within one goal. Ten minutes later however the homesides Corey Grantham restored United\u2019s two goal advantage firing into the bottom corner of the net. Ashton\u2019s Gianluca Havern did pull one back in injury time but Basford hung on to a valuable three points in their promotion push.<\/p>\n
Manager Steve Chettle after the match stated \u201cIt feels great, I was disappointed with some of our play today but delighted with the win\u201d.<\/p>\n
News in the South East Division of the NPL wasn\u2019t quite so good as Carlton Town were heavily beaten by title rivals Leek 4-0 at the Bill Stokeld Arena. A bad day at the office for Worksop Town too as they were beaten 4-1 at home by Spalding United.<\/p>\n
In the Midland Football League there were defeats for both Newark Flowserve and Selston. Newark were beaten 3-2 at Worcester City whilst Selston were beaten at home 3-1 by Coventry Sphinx.<\/p>\n
In the NCEL AFC Mansfield were beaten 1-0 at Grimsby Borough in the Premier Division whilst Ollerton lost 2-0 at Glasshaughton Welfare in Division One.<\/p>\n