
Ashton United have a nine-point cushion in the Northern Premier League (NPL) play-offs after inching past Ilkeston Town at Hurst Cross on Saturday.
A goalless first half with a paucity of chances for either side led to a quickfire start after the break.
Former Northern Ireland under-21 international full-back Josh Doherty headed a cross onto the Ilkeston bar on 48 minutes, with Darius Osei poking home the rebound for his 16th goal of the season.
The former Stalybridge and Oldham striker was clinical in putting the Robins 2-0 up moments later, with Doherty once again the provider from a pinpoint cross.
The double sting prompted the visitors to find an extra gear, clawing a goal back courtesy of L’varn Brandy on the hour after good work from Gus Wafula.
Ilkeston pressed for the equaliser, but Jordan Eastham was rarely in serious trouble in the Ashton goal, the 2-1 win moving Steve Cunningham’s side to within two points of second-placed Guiseley with a game in hand.
Hyde United extended their winless streak in the NPL to eight games after succumbing to an injury time equaliser for the second week in a row.
Joel Amado – operating on the left of a three-man central defence – made the breakthrough for the Tigers against FC United at Broadhurst Park with 20 minutes left on the clock.
This came after the home side shaded the first half, with Gerald Sithole pulling the strings in midfield for FCUM.
Although Adam Le Fondre forced Callum Hiddleston into a great save, the Tigers almost snatched the lead on half-time when Conor O’Keefe athletically denied Matt Fearnley.
Lewis Thompson, who was one of four Hyde players returning to the line-up, came close right after the restart. However, FC mounted an offensive after Amado tucked the Tigers ahead from a Frankie Sinfield corner, with birthday boy Charlie Ennis and Le Fondre both inches away from restoring parity.
As with last week against Morpeth, Hyde conceded a stoppage time equaliser, Dec McLoughlin drilling home from the edge of the box after the visitors couldn’t clear a melee.
“It’s just not good enough,” said Tigers manager Nick Spooner. “I feel sad for the back five and the two midfielders. We don’t take our chances, which has been the story all season.
“If Jack [Redshaw] doesn’t score, where are the goals coming from?
“We just seem to want to score the perfect goal – tip-tappy, tip-tappy about – whereas you can see from the last two games, the lad’s bought a lottery ticket and scored from a massive deflection last week, and the lad’s had a shot from outside the box today and it’s gone through legs.
“That goal in the last minute shouldn’t matter because we should’ve been two or three nil up. The majority of games we’ve been the better team.”
Hyde could see the return of midfielder Ben Kershaw for Tuesday night’s Manchester Premier Cup semi-final against Curzon Ashton, who drew 1-1 at home with Rushall Olympic in the National League North yesterday.
The Nash had a last-gasp Luke Griffiths freekick to thank for rescuing a point from their opponents, his sweet shot clattering the post before settling inside Paul White’s net.
Craig Mahon’s side had by far the better of the first half, with Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, Adam Barton and Stefan Mols all firing warning shots across the Rushall bows.
The action continued to flow in Curzon’s favour after the break. Marcus Poscha and Buckley-Ricketts were a whisker away with a series of efforts, including the latter having a goal bound shot cleared off the line.
With the clock running down, it was the Pics who took the lead against the run of play on 88 minutes. Aaron Forde dug a volley groundward that looped over the stranded Bobby Jones for an unlikely 1-0 lead.
However, Curzon’s pressure told in injury time with Griffiths’ precise set piece helping his side to a point to keep pace with the championship chasing pack.
“A mix of emotions,” player-manager Mahon said after the match. “Some of the stuff we played I’m really happy with, but conceding a goal like that is disappointing and frustrating, but I’m also proud of them.
“The lads kept going and got the equaliser. Luke Griffiths pulled us out of a bit of a tight space, but all in all, I thought we did really well. We played some good football, we created plenty of chances, we looked really good in defence – we just lacked that little bit of luck in front of the net.”
In the NPL West, Stalybridge Celtic rued a succession of missed chances to topple league leaders Widnes at Bower Fold.
The visitors played most of the game with 10 men after Niall Battersby saw red midway through the first half, a decision contested by their manager Michael Ellison, who was also sent off for his protests.
Bridge found Mark Halstead in outstanding form in the Widnes goal, though, pulling off two saves from Jack Irlam before the break.
Despite eking out chances, Celtic were guilty of firing over and wide, with Widnes punishing their profligacy via a James Steele opener on 64 minutes.
The referee denied Stalybridge a penalty in the final knockings after a piledriver from debutant Courtney Meppen-Walters rattled the post from a freekick, and Jordan Butterworth’s follow-up looked to have hit a Widnes defender’s hand.
To rub salt into the wound, Jack Tinning picked up a second yellow for the home side in stoppage time as they went down to a 1-0 defeat.
“I don’t think we were at our best today,” said Bridge boss Jon Macken. “There are certain areas we need to improve, one of which is not conceding, and we’ve got to do a lot better at keeping possession.
“We just couldn’t break them down. We had two or three good chances in the first half, but you’ve got to take them.
“Widnes did really well today defensively, working really hard for each other, and their mentality to get back in and recover was really good. Unfortunately, ours wasn’t.”
It was a tough day for Mossley, too, who went down to a 3-2 home loss against Trafford.
The Lilywhites twice took the lead against their fellow play-off hunters, but goals from Eric Yahaya and Mason Fawns weren’t enough to see them over the line.
Rio Clegg struck twice either side of half-time for Karl Marginson’s visitors, with Kevin Spinelli scoring his first goal for the club since signing from Witton Albion a couple of weeks back.
The result leaves Mossley in 10th place, just one point and one place behind Trafford.
There was better news in the North West Counties League (NWCFL) Premier Division for Glossop North End, who overturned an early goal against in-form Prestwich Heys to win 2-1 at Surrey Street.
Max Bardsley-Rowe gave the basement side – who had won three of their past four games – a 12th minute lead, before Keaton Mulvey and a penalty from Lee Rick put the Hillmen in the driving seat before half-time.
Droylsden kept up their title charge with a narrow 1-0 win at Darwen in the NWCFL North, a George Kattah goal being the difference between the sides.
In the NWCFL South, New Mills had a ding-dong battle with Alsager Town.
A brace from Alsager’s Dylan Woods bookended goals from Will Shawcross and Aaron Swift for the Millers, who sit mid-table, eight points off the play-off spots.