Merit League Matters - Notts set the pace

Last updated : 11 March 2003 By Peter Heywood

Stockport's demanding coach Craig Madden
On Saturday they chalked up their third win in a row, each without conceding, this time 2-0 at Grimsby. Their strike force of Kris Nurse and Leon Best once again did the damage, and Mariners’ coach Neil Woods had to admit that "…we never really looked like scoring, and the result was never really in doubt."

Notts also made it through to the next round of the Midland Youth Cup with a 4-2 extra-time win over Shrewsbury Town on Monday. Nurse was on target again, and young striker Shaun Harrod hit a hat-trick against a strong Shrews side.

Oldham stay second following a 1-1 draw at Doncaster, with Carlos Roca scoring again. It was a game that mirrored our draw with Bradford; the game was played in wet and windy conditions, the away team took an early lead before the home side came back to equalise, this time through a Jon Maloney penalty. Rovers, fielding several trialists, dominated, but could not force a winner.

The Clarets, unbeaten in six, remain third and coach Terry Pashley has set the team a target of remaining unbeaten to the end of the season. That must be a realistic prospect with Damien Hindle currently enjoying the best form of his career. "He looks like he’s going to score in every game at the moment and is playing very well," said Pash. Damo is on fire, and with the rest of the squad performing consistently well the Clarets could well challenge Notts for the title.

Stockport moved up to fourth with their first Merit win, 2-1 at Lincoln. The game was played at Sincil Bank due to waterlogging at Lincoln’s training ground. The Imps took a first half lead through Wilkinson before Mat Bailey came on as a sub and scored twice to give County the points.

The young Hatters are clearly going to find newly-appointed youth coach Craig Madden hard to please: "If we had scored ten goals then that wouldn’t have been enough!" he moaned. "Mat did well when he came on, but if he’s honest he’d admit that he could have scored five. It was pleasing that we created so many chances, but it was not pleasing the way we played generally." Ouch!

Forthcoming fixtures:

Saturday, March 15th:

Bradford City v Grimsby Town
Burnley v Chester City
Carlisle Utd v Stockport County
Notts County v Doncaster Rovers

Monday, March 17th:

Oldham Athletic v Lincoln City

Leading scorers:

5 Carlos Roca (Oldham)
4 Kris Nurse (Notts County)
3 Damien Hindle (Burnley)
3 Leon Best (Notts County)

Merit League Table