Championship
Excelsior Marlow 5 Locomotive Crewe Alexandra 3
Gainsborough Trinity 2 Marine 2
Hungaria 2 Dynamo Burnley 1
Manchester Central 6 Hartlepool Petrochemical 1
Red Star Mossley 6 Northwich Victoria 3
Sparta-Slavia 2 Liverpool St Helens 0
Stalybridge Celtic 4 Audenshaw Dynamo 2
Wrexham 9 Blyth Spartans 2
Second Division
Hendon Hotspur 2 Caledonia Thistle 1
Manchester Newton Heath 0 Crystal Palace 1
Marxist Polytechnic 5 Bohemians 0
Merthyr Tydfil 5 Inter-Italiano 2
Newcastle Blue Star 3 Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo 2
Sheffield Wednesday 3 Excelsior Benelux 1
South Liverpool Red Star 4 Atletico Espanol 3
Torpedo Tranmere 3 Bradford Park Avenue 2
A win - draw - loss return for each of the top three respectively has resulted in the field becoming slightly more spread out after the current round of fixtures. Apparently suffering no ill-effects following their midweek European Champions’ Cup trip to Moscow - from which they returned splendidly victorious, of course - leaders Stalybridge Celtic negotiated a typically feisty derby with Audenshaw Dynamo to emerge on top by 4 - 2 courtesy of two decisive strikes in the final 10 minutes and earn the two precious points that extend their advantage to the same. Second-placed Marine remain so with a point gained courtesy of another comeback draw, this time at Gainsborough, arch-brinksman Tegwyn Prothero again popping up to poach an equaliser at the death to deny Trinity a morale-boosting victory after two cup losses, the first most-shockingly-ever at home to Bootle White Star in the domestic competition and terminal to their status as holders, the second a two-goal reverse in Finland in the first leg of their inaugural Cup-Winners’ Cup tie that has cast considerable doubt on Gainsborough’s chances of progressing in Europe. Erstwhile front-runners Liverpool St Helens, victims of Stalybridge in a potentially pivotal result last weekend, suffered a second successive loss to nil, well beaten at Spartak-Slavia who thus pulled to within two points of the Saints, admirably fourth in their debut season in the top flight. A point behind the Anglo-Slavs are Red Star Mossley, still unbeaten in both league and cup under new boss Tony Mucklethwaite, this time subjecting Northwich Victoria to an impressive 6 - 3 tonking, with, to be fair, the Vics playing their part in a scintillating goalfest, even holding a 2 - 1 lead at one point before being blown away by a four goals in ten minutes salvo from Red Star.
Hungaria leapfrogged Gainsborough following a narrow and highly-contentious 2 - 1 win against Dynamo Burnley, whose only consolation was that none of their rivals in the danger zone picked up points either, Audenshaw immediately above going down at Stalybridge of course, Locomotive Crewe Alexandra just below in the second demotion spot taking a 5 - 3 beating at Excelsior Marlow - now firmly and safely ensconced in mid-table following last season’s relegation-threatened traumas - and rock-bottom Hartlepool Petrochemical being thrashed 6 - 1 at Manchester Central, which latter result enabled the Mancs to record a first league victory of the year, halting their inexorably downward spiral, and thus exchange places with Blyth Spartans, who turned in a shamefully shambolic non-performance at Wrexham and consequently suffered a season’s-worst 9 - 2 humiliation to follow the disappointment of last weekend’s Cup elimination.
The Second Division’s top-four clash saw Marxist Polytechnic assert their leadership in ruthless fashion, the students exposing increasingly-flaky Bohemians’ promotion pretensions with a 5 - 0 thrashing and maintaining their five-point advantage over Sheffield Wednesday in the process, the Owls eventually overcoming struggling Excelsior Benelux 3 - 1 after trailing for the greater part of an hour. Torpedo Tranmere made it a hat-trick of wins for the top three by squeezing past Bradford Park Avenue 3 - 2, also coming from behind to do so. Hendon Hotspur joined Bohemians in joint-fourth with another narrow victory margin, 2- 1 against visitors Caledonia Thistle, who remain third-bottom and very much in danger. There was no change, indeed, at the wrong end of the table, with four of the starting bottom five losing by the odd goal, Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo 2 - 3 in the derby at Blue Star, Atletico Espanol 3 - 4 in a thriller at South Liverpool Red Star - whose recent surge has taken them to the heady heights of mid-table - and Manchester Newton Heath going down to a single smash-and-grab goal at home to Crystal Palace. Elsewhere, Merthyr Tydfil recovered some self-respect following their previous 10 - 2 pasting at Hendon to mistreat their guests Inter-Italiano to the tune of 5 - 2, exchanging mid-table places with Inter in the process.
