Urchins hit the summit- Hornets and Towners grab their coat tails

Premier Division

First played second, as Folkestone Invicta travelled to Essex to take on Hornchurch- and for sixty two minutes there was nothing to separate the sides, as neither could find a way through. Then Lewwis Spence, the man who seems to have an extra consonant, stepped up to put the Urchins ahead- and as that was the only goal of the game it was enough to see the hosts leapfrog the visitors and lead the table. Invicta drop to fourth.

On Saturday we'll have another battle of first v second, as Hornchurch will travel to Horsham- who performed a smash-and-grab operation at Corinthian-Casuals last night. Falling behind to Coskun Ekim's fourteenth minute goal, with three minutes to go it looked as if Casuals had done enough for their first league win of the season- but not only did the Hornets find an equaliser, they then went on and won it. Jack Brivio levelled the match, and then Kieran Lavery broke Casuals hearts right at the end.

Enfield Town are level on points with Horsham in third place. They travelled to managerless Brightlingsea Regent and took the points in fifteen second half minutes, goals from Ryan Blackman and Lewis Taaffe sealing victory. They are the second of three clubs on twenty points, with the Urchins two points ahead.

Worthing jumped to seventh after victory at Merstham. Ollie Pearce put the visitors ahead in the twenty fourth minute only for Omar Folkes to equalise for the Moatsiders two minutes later, but with the game looking as if it was heading for a draw Jesse Starkey scored for the Mackerel Men with thirteen minutes remaining and Lloyd Dawes made sure five minutes from time.

Bishop's Stortford freefall continued, but all credit to Potters Bar Town, who made quite sure of the Blues discomfort by going three goals up at the Profit UK Stadium. Josh Hutchinson, Bradley Sach and George Craddock fired home before Shomari Barnwell got one back, and even then there was time for Ben Ward-Cochrane to restore the Scholars three goal cushion- and see them climb to ninth.

Margate are a further point behind the Scholars in tenth, and got three last night courtesy of victory at sixth place East Thurrock United. Andrew Pugh gave the Rocks the lead just before the break, but Gate struck back with twenty minutes remaining through Noel Leighton and seven minutes from time Kudus Oyenuga ensured the visitors got the points.

Bognor Regis Town climbed to twelfth, and they did it in style with a five-one thumping of Leatherhead. Dan Smith was a one-man Tanners destructor, scoring four of the goals- Jimmy Muitt got the other- whilst Tommy Wood got not-much-of-a-consolation for the visitors.

Cheshunt finally got a little luck. There have been moments this season when, despite some good performances, it seemed as if Lady Luck had run off with another suitor- but last night Afolabi Akinyemi struck nine minutes after the break to see the Ambers climb to fourteenth as they entertained Wingate and Finchley.

North Division

We had only one match, and it was a tight one, as Heybridge Swifts defeated Soham Town Rangers by the odd goal in five. Swifts were in front after fifteen minutes through Alex Teniola, but David Auger equalised for Rangers shortly afterwards. The visitors were level for only two minutes, Evans Kouassi firing Swifts ahead once more, and that's how it remained until nineteen minutes from time when Harrison Chatting widened the gap. Still Soham wouldn't die, and Cameron Watson narrowed the gap to a single goal with a quarter of an hour left- but Swifts held on to go fifth.

South Central

Bedfont Sports and Chipstead cancelled each other out at the end of the Heathrow runway. Joe Jackson put the visiting Chips ahead five minutes before the break, but Michael Kinsella got Sports equaliser eight minutes after it, and that was that.

FA Trophy

We had two FA Trophy replays; an all-South Central affair and an all-South East match. They ended with victories for two sides beginning with H- but given three out of the four had that in common that wasn't much of a surprise. Hanwell Town were the biggest winners, doubles from Harry Rush and Gianni Crichlow giving them a four-one win over Harlow Town, for whom Ozzy Adeniyi got the goal. At Hanbury Park we had but one goal, and Trevor McCreadie got it from the spot as Haywards Heath Town defeated Ramsgate- who ended the night with ten men after a red card for Liam Friend.

Velocity Trophy

The weather got in the way, with two matches postponed- but the one that went ahead saw AFC Sudbury wallop Felixstowe and Walton United four-nil, a Tom Maycock hat trick followed by a Shane Temple strike two minutes from time.

We've two matches tonight. Cray Wanderers host Bowers and Pitsea in the Premier Division, whilst in the Velocity Trophy Grays Athletic entertain Waltham Abbey at Parkside.