Blues shock the leaders, Scholars teach Margate a lesson, and Regent pick up a valuable point

By Ian Townsend

It’s our round up of an incident-packed Tuesday night in the Pitching In Isthmian Premier

Bishop’s Stortford opened up an eight point gap between themselves and sixth place Lewes in the battle for a Play Off spot, and gave themselves an outside chance of catching Worthing by thoroughly outperforming the leaders in a three-nil victory last night.

The Mackerel Men had won their last seven matches and conceded just one goal in doing so, but their defence was rather porous last night and their attack misfired. Stortford, with the best defensive record in the Division, were fabulous at the other end, too. Chris Harris opened the scoring just before the break, taking advantage of a defensive mix up to score, and just after the hour it was two, Jonny Giles crashing home a volley from outside the area.

The game was as good as over with fourteen minutes remaining, another fine volley, this one from Ryan Henshaw with Giles as the provider.

Our image comes from the lens of Nathan Cracknell, and you can see more of Nathan's work by heading here.

Worthing still have a ten point lead at the top, but it must be a blow to their morale as they travel to face another form side, Potters Bar Town, on Saturday.

The Scholars went into last night’s match with Margate with only one defeat from their previous seven matches- the same record as their Blue opponents. A goal in each half was enough for Sammy Moore’s men to claim victory, with Calvin Ekpiteta continuing his fine run with a third goal in five games since his arrival, and full back Dwight Pascal finishing things off with his first of the season jys before the hour. Bar are now twelfth, and have surely discarded any worries they had about getting involved in the scrap at the wrong end of the table. The change in their form since Moore took over has been rather remarkable.

Folkestone Invicta started the night level on points with Stortford, but the gap is now two points after they could only draw in Brightlingsea. Regent were two down on Saturday at Horsham and came back to win, but they couldn’t quite manage that last night, despite being two down once more when David Smith and Matt Newman scored on twenty two and twenty eight minutes. Wyan Reid began the home comeback by reducing the arrears only six minutes later, and just after the restart Ollie Bell completed it with an equaliser. Try as they might, neither side could find a winner.

Invicta have a game in hand over Stortford so won’t be too downhearted- and have opened a six point gap on sixth place Lewes- whilst Regent have moved level on points with fourth bottom Cray Wanderers, and they have a game in hand.

Follow the Pitching In Isthmian League on Instagram. Head here or search for theisthmianleague on your app. We're also on Facebook and Twitter.

Where next?

Advantage Hashtag United win the battle of fifth and sixth, Aveley can’t find a way past the Jammers, and the Yellows thrust themselves back into the Play Off mix. It’s our Pitching In Isthmian North round up.
Saturday's best bits As we prepare for tonight's fixtures, here are some of the most exciting bits of Saturday, on video for your enjoyment

The Pitching In Isthmian Football League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe