Championship
Audenshaw Dynamo 2 Hungaria 2
Blyth Spartans 1 Manchester Central 1
Dynamo Burnley 2 Red Star Mossley 2
Hartlepool Petrochemical 1 Marine 2
Liverpool St Helens 6 Wrexham 2
Locomotive Crewe Alexandra 2 Gainsborough Trinity 4
Northwich Victoria 1 Excelsior Marlow 0
Stalybridge Celtic 4 Spartak-Slavia 1
Second Division
Atletico Espanol 4 Manchester Newton Heath 2
Bohemians 6 Hendon Hotspur 2
Bradford Park Avenue 3 Merthyr Tydfil 2
Crystal Palace 4 Newcastle Blue Star 2
Excelsior Benelux 3 Torpedo Tranmere 3
Inter-Italiano 2 Caledonia Thistle 1
Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo 2 Marxist Polytechnic 1
South Liverpool Red Star 1 Sheffield Wednesday 2
Wins for the top three, defeats for the bottom two and draws for each of the four immediately above result in no changes of place at either ‘business’ end of the Championship table, although Marine in second pulled a point closer - now just one behind - to leaders Stalybridge Celtic thanks, yet again, to a ‘man of the last moment’ Tegwyn Prothero goal proving decisive at doomed but gallant Hartlepool Petrochemical, who took an early lead, were inevitably pegged back but held on until the 90th minute before the Mariners and the deadly Teg broke their resistance with the killer winner. Stalybridge handed-out a 4 - 1 spanking to Spartak-Slavia after their visitors had taken impertinent advantage of Celtic’s opening sluggishness to sneak a goal start, Eoghan Money greedily helping himself to another hat-trick in the process, whilst Liverpool St Helens - fall-guys at Spartak last time out - arrested a two-match losing streak by taking inconsistent Wrexham to the cleaners to the tune of 6 - 2: had not Saints eased-off after establishing a 4 - 0 half-time lead, perhaps preserving energy for potentially sterner tests ahead, Wrexham could easily have been on course to concede something in the region of the nine goals they hammered past hapless Blyth Spartans last weekend.
Today, Blyth’s draw at home to Manchester Central enabled each to edge a point clearer of the relegation places, remaining above both the Dynamic duo Audenshaw and Burnley, whose respective ties with Hungaria and Red Star Mossley put three points between them and second-bottom Locomotive Crewe Alexandra, losers at home to Gainsborough Trinity, themselves emerging from a recent trough with a second four-goal winning salvo in four days, demonstrating admirable stamina in addition to an impressive strike-rate following their midweek extra-time Cup-Winners’ Cup comeback victory against the Finns Kuusysi Lahti.
Finally, Northwich Victoria moved back above Wrexham and into the top half of the table after a solitary goal proved sufficient to overcome Excelsior Marlow, which the losers might almost regard as something of a moral victory following last season’s 1 - 7 humbling at the Vics, the epitome of the trauma the then-defending champions were suffering.
In the Second Division, it proved to be a perfect day for Sheffield Wednesday as their hard-fought 2 - 1 victory at South Liverpool Red Star, secured but a couple of minutes from time, both brought them three points closer in second place to leaders Marxist Polytechnic, shock losers at lowly Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo, and took them a further two clear of Torpedo Tranmere who shared six goals at also-struggling Excelsior Benelux, thus opening up the comparative luxury of a four-point gap on third position and the separation between promotion success and failure.
In fourth, Bohemians arrested a losing streak by hitting Hendon Hotspur, with whom they had begun proceedings level on points, for six, whilst Crystal Palace in sixth caught up with Hendon after scoring four of the six goals in their match against Newcastle Blue Star.
Bradford Park Avenue kept pace in seventh, beating Merthyr Tydfil by the odd goal in five.
Atletico Espanol enjoyed a second successive home victory, 4 - 2 over Manchester Newton Heath this time, but despite this relative burst of form remain bottom as a consequence of Newcastle-Gateshead Dynamo’s highly unlikely win, their only consolation being that, like the Geordies, they have gained two points on the safety cut-off. Caledonia Thistle also remain in deep trouble at third-bottom, suffering a narrow defeat at Inter-Italiano, consistent with their away form that has so far seen the Anglo-Scots fail to record even a single victory on the road, in common with only the two sides below them.
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