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Chester remain third with a 3-2 home win over Lincoln. Dean Buckley scored two more, with Paul Connolly getting the other for the Blues. Frecklington and Ryan were on target for the Imps.
Stockport’s unbeaten run continued with a 2-1 win at bottom club Grimsby. That makes six games unbeaten for the Hatters and six defeats in a row for the Mariners. Unusually, hard-to-please County coach Craig Madden was full of praise: "I was delighted with the lads today. It was their best performance of the season," he purred. Jamie Baguley and Colin McAllister scored for Stockport, with Joe Lightowler getting Grimsby’s reply.
Our 2-1 home reversal at the hands of a strong Doncaster side (both goals from Steve Burton) effectively ends any title aspirations we may have been harbouring. With youth team players now featuring in the first team coach Terry Pashley has had to field several inexperienced players at this level. However, Pash was understandably delighted at the well-deserved recent first team débuts of Matthew O’Neill (at the age of 18 years 9 months and 11days) and Richard Chaplow (18 years 2 months 10 days). No doubt he would be happy to see his squad further weakened this coming weekend!
Damien Hindle must be a strong candidate for an appearance from the bench. He scored his eighteenth goal of the season on Saturday, and with last night’s injury to Papa the in-form Damo would provide striking cover. Pash was full of praise for his all-round game after the Doncaster game, and it would come as no surprise to regular reserve and youth team observers if he were to feature against Gillingham.
The final scheduled match for last Saturday between Carlisle and Bradford was postponed. Bradford, however, received the welcome news today that youth and first team forward Danny Forrest has been called up for the England under-19 squad for their friendly in Germany next week.
This Saturday’s fixtures:
Bradford City v Notts County
Grimsby Town v Chester City
Lincoln City v Burnley (kick off1pm)
Oldham Athletic v Carlisle United
Stockport County v Doncaster Rovers
Leading reported scorers:
7 Carlos Roca (Oldham)
7 Dean Buckley (Chester)
5 Craig Fleming (Oldham)
4 Damien Hindle (Burnley)
4 Kris Nurse (Notts County)
4 Leon Best (Notts County, now Southampton)
Merit League Table