LEAGUE TWO
NORTHAMPTON 2 Pierre 32, Williams 56 EXETER 1 Martin 61
HAVING seen Exeter lose the last two League Two play-off finals under Paul Tisdale, Matt Taylor is worried his side might not even make it that far.
Taylor watched his young, injury-hit side lose to goals from Aaron Pierre and Andy Williams, with Aaron Martin replying.
Taylor said: “A lot of our players are young but they have got to learn quickly.”
CARLISLE 2 Hope 13, O’Hare 79 SWINDON 1 Bennett 39
CARLISLE boss Steven Pressley enjoyed a weekend to remember.
After agreeing a contract extension with Hallam Hope on Friday and watching him score on Saturday, Pressley yesterday tied keeper Adam Collin to a new deal. He said: “We’ve done two very good bits of business.”
Callum O’Hare won the game after Kyle Bennett levelled Hope’s strike.
COLCHESTER 3 Szmodics 20, Senior 45, Nouble 63 NEWPORT 0
MICHAEL FLYNN refused to use his Newport side’s FA Cup exertions as the reason for their form tailing off.
Colchester, on the other hand, are back on promotion track after goals from Sammie Szmodics, Courtney Senior and Frank Nouble gave them victory.
Flynn said: “I will not make any excuses. Colchester were well worth three points.”
MACCLESFIELD 1 Cameron 19 MILTON KEYNES 3 Wheeler 44, Brittain 53, Agard 79
SOL CAMPBELL was unrepentant about making nine changes to his Macclesfield side for the defeat by MK Dons.
Campbell chose to try out different players, but his side are now six points adrift of thirdbottom Yeovil.
Campbell said: “It’s all about characters now. I won’t be giving up.
“I gave chances to a lot of guys today to see what they can do.”
CHELTENHAM 4 Boyle 29, Varney 36 pen, Waters 55, Barnett 88 NOTTS COUNTY 1 Hemmings 69 pen
COUNTY boss Neal Ardley refused to defend his men after a defeat which edged them closer to a League Two exit.
Ardley said: “Hanging players out to dry isn’t my style, but that wasn’t good enough. I’m angry and let the boys know it.”
Will Boyle, Luke Varney, Billy Waters and Tyrone Barnett were on target for Cheltenham, with Kane Hemmings replying for the visitors.
MORECAMBE 3 Oates 6, Collins 35, Kenyon 71 FOREST GREEN 0
MORECAMBE boss Jim Bentley said Forest Green’s attacking style had helped his side as they earned their best win of the season.
Goals from Rhys Oates, Aaron Collins and Alex Kenyon moved Morecambe eight points clear of the drop zone.
Bentley said: “With them being quite open in how they play, you sometimes have to find a way of winning.”
CRAWLEY 2 Palmer 26, 40 GRIMSBY 1 Thomas 6
OLLIE PALMER scored twice against his old club Grimsby and the Crawley striker hopes it works again tomorrow when he faces another one in Mansfield.
Wes Thomas got an early goal then Palmer stole the limelight.
He said: “I don’t usually get so fired up playing against my old clubs, but I was disappointed not to get a hat-trick today.”
CAMBRIDGE 1 Brown 46 OLDHAM 1 Dunk 12 og
PAUL SCHOLES admits he may have been working his Oldham players so hard they have lost freshness.
Cambridge equalised through Jevani Brown following an early Harrison Dunk own goal.
Latics boss Scholes said: “The players looked a little bit tired in the second half, which could be understandable as they’ve had a couple of hard weeks of training.”
PORT VALE 2 Miller 50, 52 MANSFIELD 1 Ajose 61
JOHN ASKEY has lost a lot – but the Port Vale boss has clearly retained his sense of humour.
In 22 previous matches, at Shrewsbury and Vale, Askey’s sides had collected just 19 points. Two Ricky Miller goals overcame Nick Ajose’s reply for Mansfield to earn Askey his first win at Vale Park.
He said: “I don’t know what to do now as I’m not used to winning.”
STEVENAGE 0 BURY 1 Maynard 90+5
STEVENAGE boss Dino Maamria felt the difference between his play-off hopefuls and a Bury team hunting automatic promotion was plain to see.
Nicky Maynard scored the only goal in injurytime and Maamria said: “Fair play to them. They did what they’ve done all season. Even when they don’t play well, they seize the moment. That’s the only chance they had.”