Dalians run ends with St Aidans loss

FOR the first time this season the weather took a substantial bite into the busy programme with heavy rain prior to and on match day taking its toll on fixtures

The top match of the day saw Premier division leaders Rochdalians looking to make progress in the Lancashire Amateur Cup, where they have had some terrific results this season, as they hosted Winstanley St Aidans.

But it was not to be as Rochdalians had a rare blank scoring sheet losing out 2-0.

Their game in the cup gave the chasing pack a chance to reduce Rochdalians’ big lead in the Premier division and two in-form teams took advantage of the opportunity

Whalley Range hosted Old Ashtonians who had to play the entire game with ten men but still gave a good account of themselves before going down 6-3.

Tim Kinsella was the main man for Range as he hit four to take them into a 4-1 lead early in the second half.

But Ashtonians showed great fighting spirit inspired by the returning Jamie Moran and keeperMiroslav Uryga who had a magnificent penalty save among many other great stops.

Ashtonians got back to make it 5-3 after Danny Heffernan had extended the Range lead with Asa Hallsworth (two) and Sean Weston netting to have Range rocking but a late strike from sub Owen Traynor sealed victory for Range.

Salford Vics stay in third spot, a point behind Range as they toppled high-flying Milton 3-1 to keep up their recent great run of victories.

The other game in the division saw Abacus Media and Mellor share eight goals with the hard-earned point taking Mellor into mid-table safety.

With division one leaders Dom Doyle having their game postponed it gave close rivals Parrs Wood Celtic and Chorltonians the opportunity to reduce their lead as they faced each other in a local derby.

Celtic maintained their fine run of form as they cruised to a 4-1 win with the Chorlts consolation coming from Aaron Rodger to move them ahead of Chorlts and one point adrift of Dom Doyle.

The other games saw Irlam Tigers won 3-0 at AFC Oldham and Oldham Vics kept up their recent revival with a close 3-2 win at Stoconians.

The top three teams in division two were all without games and Urmston Town had the biggest win by 6-0 at Santos.

The other two games were close contests with South Manchester seconds having Josh Harper (two) and Azuka Ututu seing them come back from twice being behind to win their local derby with Bedians by 3-2.

Milton seconds and Rochdalians seconds were also in a thriller with Milton edging a 4-3 victory

Division three was the most active of the day with five games played and producing a flood of goals.

Leaders Dukinfield Athletic led the way with a 9-2 win over Salford Vics seconds to increase their lead to four points over Signol Athletic who lost 4-3 in a thrilling local derby at Mellor thirds.

Radclyffe have plenty of games in hand on the leading pack and they showed thir intent on getting into the mix with an emphatic 7-0 win over Abacus Media seconds.

Milton seconds beat Heaton Mersey 5-2 and Stoconians seconds beat Village Manchester 6-2.

It’s tight in division A with three teams level on 21 points at the top of the table

Elton Lib Hargreaves had a convincing 5-1 win at Rochdale Galaxy to move ahead of non-playing Chadderton Cott and Galaxy on goal difference.