Saturday's Blue Square North wrap

Alfreton Town 0 AFC Telford 1

High flying AFC Telford strengthened their push for promotion with a narrow yet important 1-0 win over Alfreton Town.

The Reds had seen their last two fixtures postponed due to inclement weather and although keen to return to action, they failed to penetrate the visitors' defence.

The first-half produced no goals and it took all of 61 minutes to break the deadlock through Jon Adams.

The Bucks will be buoyed by the victory - that places them three points adrift off league leaders Kettering.

Barrow 1 Blyth Spartans 1

Mid-table Barrow drew blanks against a relegation-threatened Blyth Spartans side, severely ruining any prospects of a play-off place.

The Bluebirds went behind in the 7th minute through a well-taken Michael Hedley opener.

The goal looked likely to secure all three points for the visitors, but Matt Heny heroically equalised for the home side in the 76st minute.

Gainsborough 0 Harrogate Town 1

Gainsborough Trinity were ousted by an in-form Harrogate side intent on advancing through to the Blue Square Premier.

The hosts were in high spirits following their win over North leaders Kettering, but their giant-killing dreams were dashed in the 69th minute.

Nathan Peat's winning strike moves Harrogate to within three points of the top two - hotting up the battle for the automatic promotion spot.

Hinckley 2 Southport 3

Southport were the most entertaining of the play-off hopeful's as they triumphed in a thrilling yet heated encounter against Hinckley.

Gez Murphy opened the scoring for the visitors in the 9th minute, before Tony Gray leveled the scores on the 28th minute mark.

Peter Davenport's charges were lifted by the goal - the first in what was to become a spectacular hat-trick for Gray.

Referee S Ross dampened the visitors spirits though when he pointed to the spot in the 37th minute.

Murphy made no mistake with the penalty and doubled his tally for the night.

But it was to be both Southport and Grays' night as the striker netted on the 49th and 53rd minute marks to make it 3-2 for the visitors.

Kettering 0 Burscough 1

Kettering were dealt a surprising blow as Burscough reduced the league leaders to a narrow defeat.

Liam Watson's men made it six games unbeaten after Ciarin Kilheeny's 33rd minute strike was enough to kill off the mighty Poppies.

The home side's loss means second-placed Telford are just three points behind them - albeit having played one more game.

Hucknall 0 Stalybridge 3

Stalybridge Celtic put in an impressive showing to see off Hucknall Town on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors opened the scoring in the tenth minute when Chris Hall found the back of the net.

Matt Barlow and Alex Meechan rounded off the scoring in the second-half to wrap up the points.

Hyde United 3 Worcester City 1

Hyde United saw off the challenge of a plucky Worcester City side 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

David Morley opened the hosts' account in the 18th minute after some impressive team play.

Craig Simms doubled their advantage in the 36th minute and Gareth Seddon made it 3-0 on 73 minutes.

Matthew Dinsmore grabbed a consolation goal for the visitors when he popped up to score on 76 minutes but it was never going to be enough as the home side strolled to a comfortable win.

Workington 0 Boston United 1

Boston United came away from Workington with a slender victory on Saturday afternoon.

The match as a whole was a rather even affair with both side's eager to catch the opposition on the break.

The only goal of the game came early on when Jonathan Rowan found the net on five minutes.

The early goal did nothing to dampen the home side who tried in vein to claim an equaliser as the visitors left with all three-points.