ROUTE One Rovers will always be grateful for Steeton agreeing to groundshare Marley with them.
But they stuck it to the Chevrons at the weekend, with the Bradford side claiming a superb 3-2 home win over Darwen at the weekend.
While Route One have had a poor season to date, hampered by the departure of star striker Zak Khan to Campion, Saturday’s victory leaves them just three points off safety, with Steeton the side immediately above the dreaded dotted line.
Anees Younis scored twice for Rovers on Saturday, before subsitutute Musa Duhuray Corrah netted the winner midway through the second half.
Darwen’s goals came courtesy of Jack Foster and Bradley Sixsmith, while they also had Sam Lloyd sin-binned just after half-time, with Younis netted his second goal while the visitors were down to 10 men.
Steeton stayed fourth-bottom, as they lost a fiery, bad-tempered game 1-0 at Euxton Villa.
Alex Colquhoun struck for the hosts 10 minutes into the second half, but the visitors came agonisingly close to equalising in the dying seconds, only for Macca Smith’s header to come back off the post.
Steeton’s neighbours Silsden had a much more enjoyable finale to their Northern Counties East League Premier Division game at home to Golcar United, as they won a dramatic game 3-2.
Both sides have started the season superbly, and it was the visitors who took the lead in this encounter through George Doyle.
But a terrible tackle by Doyle on Silsden’s Sam Kilner saw Golcar reduced to 10 men, and home captain Ross Daly took advantage when levelling the scores just adfter the break.
Alfie Wilkinson’s excellent volley restored Golcar’s lead, only for Casey Stewart to quickly grab the Cobbydalers’ second equaliser.
And Stewart’s superb cross in the dying seconds was poked home by veteran striker Tom Greaves to give Silsden all three points.
The win moves them up to second, with Albion Sports just behind in third.
The Bradford side enjoyed a more comfortable afternoon than the Cobbydalers, romping to a 4-1 win at Hallam thanks to a Nathan Cartman hat-trick.
Ellis Wade grabbed Albion’s other goal on an afternoon that saw them overtake Thackley in the table.
The Dennyboys slipped to fourth with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Parkgate.
Eccleshill United are climbing the table nicely after a slow start, and they moved up to 11th on Saturday with a 2-1 home win over Frickley Athletic.
With a depleted side, they fought back from going 1-0 down early on to secure victory through goals from Zack Sangster and Mo Farhan Subhani.
But promotion hopefuls Campion are stuck in third bottom, albeit with games in hand on the sides above them.
They lost 3-1 at Pickering Town on Saturday, Ewan Gregson scoring the Bradford side’s only goal of the afternoon.
Over in the Northern Premier League East Division, Liversedge thumped visiting Newton Aycliffe 4-0 to move within three points of the play-offs.
Jack Carr, Jack Dyche and Alfie Raw, the latter from the penalty spot, put Sedge 3-0 up at the break, before Chinedu Osadebe added a late fourth goal.
Brighouse Town are just three points clear of the drop after an ugly 3-0 home defeat to Grimsby Borough, Josh Grant’s late red card compounding their misery.
Jake Lawlor’s early header earned Guiseley a memorable 1-0 home win over Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup third qualifying round, the Lions holding on to win despite Lebrun Mbeka’s dismissal midway through the second half.
Farsley Celtic are also into the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup after their 1-0 win at Wythenshawe Town, Darren Stephenson scoring the only goal of the game on 33 minutes.
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