Matchday #21: Results and Updated League Tables

Championship

Audenshaw Dynamo 4  Dynamo Burnley 2
Blyth Spartans 4  Spartak-Slavia 1
Gainsborough Trinity 5  Manchester Central 2
Hartlepool Petrochemical 0  Wrexham 2
Liverpool St Helens 0  Stalybridge Celtic 1
Locomotive Crewe Alexandra 1  Red Star Mossley 2
Marine 4  Excelsior Marlow 0
Northwich Victoria 1  Hungaria 2

Second Division

Atletico Espanol 3  Crystal Palace 1
Bohemians 0  Newcastle Blue Star 1
Bradford Park Avenue 2  Sheffield Wednesday 2
Caledonia Thistle 1  Marxist Polytechnic 5
Excelsior Benelux 0  South Liverpool Red Star 2
Hendon Hotspur 10  Merthyr Tydfil 2
Inter-Italiano 1  Torpedo Tranmere 2
Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo 3  Manchester Newton Heath 2

 

Pivotal. That could well be the word to describe Stalybridge Celtic’s 1 - 0 win at Liverpool St Helens, a single goal, inevitably and unerringly scored by Eoghan Money, in a closely-fought contest of few genuine chances enabling the reigning champions to replace Saints as leaders of the pack, exactly the type of result against a direct rival that ultimately decides fates and the destination of honours. St Helens’ defeat was rendered all the more costly, as the two points gained from Marine’s comfortable 4 - 0 victory over Excelsior Marlow moved Crosby’s finest up into second place above their local rivals, Tegwyn Prothero following up last weekend’s rescue-act brace of goals with a hat-trick this time out.

Wins for Red Star Mossley, Gainsborough Trinity and Hungaria enabled each to gain a little on Spartak-Slavia, who remain fourth, but now four points adrift of the top three, despite a 4 - 1 beating at Blyth Spartans which elevated the victors to the heady heights of eleventh position, further clear of danger, leapfrogging Manchester Central, Gainsborough’s victims, in the process. In the relegation places, Hartlepool Petrochemical’s and Locomotive Crewe Alexandra’s home defeats, to Wrexham and Mossley respectively, leaves matters unchanged, but Audenshaw’s rip-roaring 4 - 2 win over Burnley in the battle of the Dynamos resulted in the two exchanging third- and fourth-bottom places two points above the basement pair, again, as at the top of the table, a potentially critical outcome.

 

Of those challenging to replace those eventually relegated from the Championship, Marxist Polytechnic cemented their position atop the Second Division even more firmly with a devastating 5 - 1 win at Caledonia Thistle that confirms the Anglo-Scots as being deep in danger of departing the division via the other route, back down to the regional leagues.  Sheffield Wednesday’s 2- 2 Yorkshire derby draw at Bradford Park Avenue maintains their second position, albeit two points further adrift of the student leaders. Wednesday remain two points clear of third, but that berth is now occupied by resurgent Torpedo Tranmere, whose last-gasp 2- 1 win at Inter-Italiano enabled them to move above Bohemians, who suffered a second successive league loss, on this occasion surprisingly at home to Newcastle Blue Star.

South Liverpool Red Star’s renaissance continues courtesy of a 2 - 0 win at Excelsior Benelux, who remain fourth bottom but now three points adrift of safety. Unusually, both of the bottom two won, Atletico Espanol beating Crystal Palace most impressively, 3 - 1, and Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo edging Manchester Newton Heath 3 - 2, although both clubs remain in grave danger of the drop as games begin to run out.