The Weekend Review: runaway winners and races that are just hotting up
For paying subscribers...just because there was no Premier League or Championship football, it doesn't mean that there was nothing going on anywhere. This post will be unlocked on Friday for all.
Even for those of us who attend matches with crowds in the two figures range, international break weekends often do feel weirdly bereft. It’s an interregnum, a pause in the normal routine which strips a good deal of the context from the weekend. The soap opera is in the middle of its equivalent to a commercial break, and just with linear television it feels as though there are more of these breaks than ever.
But there was, of course, football regardless. From League One down, matches were taking place, and since it was Non-League Day there’s been plenty been going on a little further down football’s vast food chain. The England national team were workmanlike against Albania on Friday night, a match which was perfect for occasionally glancing at on your mobile phone before deciding that you had better things to be doing with your precious time. They play Latvia tonight. ETA for first Mexican Wave: 24 minutes.
In the EFL, of course, there were postponements due to international call-ups, but these didn’t apply to everybody. The three-way race for two automatic promotion places at the top of League One continues apace. But Only one of these three were in action over the weekend, and with Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers both out of action the spotlight was on Wrexham to continue to live up to the hype.
They did so, just, with a 1-0 against Stockport County at The Racecourse Ground. A first-half goal from Jay Rodriguez was enough to separate the two teams. Wrexham were the only winners from the top six. Charlton Athletic were beaten 3-0 at Peterborough United, while Huddersfield Town also didn’t play.
At the other end of the table, Crawley Town won for the first time in nine games against Bristol City, cutting the gap to safety to nine points, while Cambridge United picked up a 1-1 draw at Barnsley. It does still look as though this division’s relegation places have more or less been decided, though. There was some shuffling of papers in mid-table with a for Blackpool and a goalless draw between Lincoln City and Exeter City.
I wrote towards the end of last week about Walsall’s recent choking behaviour, and that continued on Saturday when they could only claim a goalless draw from a trip to Gillingham. Their lead at the top of the table has now been cut to one point after a whopping 23,000 crowd turned out at Valley Parade to see Bradford City open a can of whoopass on the hapless Colchester United, beating them 4-1.
The news was just as mixed for those just below them. Wimbledon conceded six minutes into stoppage-time to drop two points at home to Barrow, having been leading 2-0 with three minutes to play. They’re now level on points with Port Vale, who won 1-0 against Morecambe. Doncaster Rovers had a week off for international call-ups but remain a point behind these two, while Notts County are a further point behind them after they could only manage a goalless draw at home to Crewe.
It was a relatively goal-free day in League Two. The Notts County vs Crewe match was one of five goalless draws, while a further three ended in 1-0 wins. Only 15 goals were scored in total across 11 matches, and more than half of those came at Wimbledon and Bradford. At the bottom of the table, Morecamble are now only separated from bottom place by goal difference after Carlisle United beat Bromley 2-1 at Brunton Park; both are seven points adrift of Tranmere Rovers, who were involved in one of those goalless draws, away to Fleetwood Town.
In the National League, Barnet are now 14 (FOURTEEN) points clear of York City following an eighth successive win, this time 1-0 at Altrincham. It was also their sixth clean sheet in a row. York lost 2-1 at Braintree Town. They still have a game in hand on Barnet, but bookmakers are presumably already paying out on the Bees returning to the EFL come the end of this season. Best start thinking about those playoffs, Minstermen.
There is greater interest to be found further down the division. With six playoff places, anyone down to mid-table can still hold out some degree of aspiration of making the top seven, though those are hopes are starting to dim for a few at the bottom as the remaining games start to run out and it becomes increasingly likely that they’ll be dependent upon those above stumbling.
York, Forest Green Rovers and Oldham Athletic seem pretty much assured three of these places, though Forest Green were beaten 3-0 at Fylde. Oldham’s 2-0 win against Halifax gave them a ten-point buffer with seven left to play as well as a four-point buffer over their opponents, who stay fifth. Tucked in behind them are Rochdale, who dropped two points at Maidenhead but have the not-inconsiderable advantage of three games in hand on almost everyone around them.
At the bottom of the table, Ebbsfleet United were relegated after a 3-3 draw at Aldershot mathematically confirmed what had been seen by everybody for much of the season. Their 1-0 win against Fylde a week earlier had been their first since the 14th September, and yes there is considerable irony to the fact that relegation has been rubber-stamped just as they started to come into something approaching form for the first time this season.
Otherwise, it looks like it’s going to be three from six between Wealdstone, Woking, Dagenham & Redbridge, Fylde, Maidenhead United and Boston United. Only two of them won on Saturday—Fylde and Wealdstone, who beat Woking 1-0—and there are now five point between them five between seven and nine games to play. It’s worth pointing out that Wealdstone, Woking and Boston all have at least one game in hand over the other three, though Woking are in the worst form of the six, having failed to win any of their last five league games.
On Non-League Day, the biggest crowd of the day anywhere came at Glanford Park, where 8,274 people turned out to see Scunthorpe Unired beat Chester 3-1. Chester had started the day in second place, two points behind Scunthorpe, but that gap is now five and they’ve dropped to 4th place in the table, below Brackley Town, who won 2-1 at Radcliffe, and Kidderminster Harriers, who beat struggling Needham Market 4-1. Scunthorpe’s lead at the top of the table is now four points, but both Brackley and Kidderminster have a game in hand.
The National League South has felt for much of the season like the league title that no-one wants to win this season, because as soon as somebody ascends to the top of the table they find a way of hitting the skids within weeks. Recent form might have suggested that Worthing, who finally hit the top of the table a couple of weeks ago, were going to stay in position and get over the line, but no. On Saturday they lost 2-0 at third-bottom Welling United because that’s exactly what happens in this division.
Worthing remain a point clear at the top and they do have a game in hand, but with the four below them all winning the gap at the top of the table of contracting again. Truro City beat Salisbury City 1-0. Eastbourne Borough beat Farnborough 4-0. Dorking Wanderers won 1-0 at Boreham Wood. Torquay United beat Bath City 1-0 in front of a crowd of over 5,000. There are now three points separating these five teams at the top of the table with just six games left to play.
Things are just as tight in the some of the divisions that feed into these two, as well. In the Isthmian League Premier Division, where there were five crowds of over 1,000 this weekend, three points separate the top three. Dartford went top with a 2-0 win at Bognor Regis Town, while Billericay Town were beaten 3-1 at home by Wingate & Finchley and third-placed Horsham beat Hendon 1-0.
There are differing situations at the top of the two divisions of the Southern League. Merthyr Town are now nine points clear of the Premier Division South after beating Chertsey Town 3-1 (another 1,500+ attendance there) while second-placed AFC Totton lost 1-0 at Hanwell Town. Merthyr’s supporters—who own the club—recently voted to stay within the English league system rather than transferring to the Welsh league system.
But the Premier Division Central is another matter. In this division just two points now separate the top four. The top two both won—Halesowen Town 3-1 against Lowestoft Town and Bedford Town 4-0 against Stamford—while third and fourth, Kettering Town and Telford United, played each other in front of a crowd of 1,700 and drew 1-1. Halesowen and Bedford are tied at the top on 66 points, with Kettering on 65 and Telford on 64.
And finally, the first league title of the season has been won, at this level of the game at up. Macclesfield’s 2-1 win against Bamber Bridge at Moss Rose on Saturday left them 20 points clear at the top of the Northern Premier League with six games to play, a gap which is now insurmountable for second-placed Worksop Town.
Of course, Macclesfield are only really at this level in the first place because of the death of Macclesfield Town in September 2020, so this might all just be considered a case of them finding their level again. There were 4,724 people there to see them do it, more than double the number who were going there when the old club folded. Nothing gets bums on seats quite like a winning team.