Advantage Stoke!

Basingstoke Town had the chance to go second and close the gap on leaders Northwood- with both the Woods and second place Walton & Hersham seeing their matches postponed. Stoke, who had won eight of their previous ten matches, fell behind against Westfield as an own goal gave the visitors the advantage, but Bradley Wilson levelled from the spot just before the break. Soon after the restart the hosts got another penalty, and Wilson beat Sonny Wheeler from the spot for the second time in six minutes- and on sixty six minutes they added a third, this one not from the spot- Marcio Magalmaes-Nevez making them more comfortable. George Reid ended the contest by adding a fourth with thirteen minutes left, but there was time for two red cards, one from each side- Brody Peart for Town and Richard Afrane-Kesay for the visitors taking an only slightly early bath. Town are now two points behind Northwood with a game in hand.

Marlow welcomed Thatcham Town to the Alfred David Ground. The hosts seemed to have hit a tricky patch, with one win from four matches, whilst the Kingfishers were in their best form of the season, with four wins from their last five- and they looked set to continue that run as Muhamadou Ceesay put them ahead on twenty one minutes. Marlow hit back, however, Louis Rogers delivering the equaliser seven minutes after the break, and the two couldn’t be separated.

Chertsey Town, with only one defeat from their previous nine- and having scored ten goals without reply in their last three- welcomed Binfield, the Moles arriving on the back of a five match unbeaten run. Brad Pagliaroli put the visitors ahead on fourteen minutes, but they were ahead for only sixty seconds before Jonathan Hippolyte equalised for the Curfews. The Moles were ahead again five minutes after the break, James Beauchamp with his fifth of the campaign, and held on to climb to within two points of the top five- a top five which the Curfews dropped out of.

Uxbridge and Southall met in a West London derby. The hosts fell behind on the half hour, Jack Roper with the goal, but they were level by the break with a goal from Mark Bitmead and ahead soon after the restart, Kensley Maloney with his second of the campaign. They held on for all three points, and end the day in twelfth- doing the double over their opponents with a second two-one win.

We’d a Surrey derby as South Park Reigate welcomed Leatherhead- but they weren’t all that welcoming, taking the lead after just two minutes, Sam King with the goal. That turned out to be the only goal of the game- a second one-nil win of the campaign over the Tanners, and three points which lifts them to fifth.

We had a relegation battle in the Channel Islands. Guernsey’s success over the years has always been built on their home record, but this season home had brought no comfort, eight home matches without a win. The Green Lions finally began to roar, however, as Sutton Common Rovers came to call. Sam Murray opened the scoring for the hosts after just thirteen minutes, and Rovers made things more difficult for themselves when Joshua Okpolokpo was dismissed in the early stages of the second half. The hosts held on to take a critical three points and complete the double over their opponents- and close the gap on safety to five points. Image from Scott Fusellier- more here.

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