Athersley stun two top ten opponents to increase gap to relegation zone
▪ Worsbrough Bridge suffer 4-0 loss at lowly Yorkshire Amateur ▪ Wombwell Town beaten at Louth and remain outside play-offs
ATHERSLEY Rec gained two vital wins this week which increased the gap between them and the relegation zone.
They ended a run of five straight defeats with a 2-1 victory at Dronfield Town on Saturday. Rec then stunned promotion-chasing Retford United 3-2 on Tuesday. They are seven points clear of the relegation zone in 18th, with 32 points from 36 games, and eight to play.
Manager Paul Clarkson said: “It’s been a huge week. We’ve got a good gap in terms of points now and, even if teams win their games in hand, they will still be behind us. It’s in our hands now.
“We still need a couple of wins and we have Yorkshire Amateur next week which is a massive six-pointer.
“This is the first time all season we have kept the same squad together for nearly a month and it shows.
“We signed Nathan Perks and he makes all the difference. We needed a number nine all season.”
Perks’ brace put Rec 2-0 up on Tuesday then, after Retford levelled, Ethan Hargreaves won it. Clarkson said: “We were quietly confident, but we stayed humble. Both our starting centre-backs pulled up in the warm-up with injuries so we had to make changes. But we could have been three or four up at half-time.
“They scored a good goal to make it 2-1 and they are a big side, put pressure on us and equalised. But we scored a great winner after a team move.”
Against Dronfield, after James Woodhouse’s opener was cancelled out, Jack Briscoe netted a late winner.
“It was a big win and well-deserved.
“We played some of the best football we’ve played all season in the first half and completely dominated it.
“They changed in second half and got at us then scored a deserved equaliser.
“But we freshened it up and got the winner. We’ve been through a tough run, playing bigger clubs. It could have undone a lot of hard work but we’ve shown strength in character.”
Worsbrough Bridge were beaten 4-0 at lowly Yorkshire Amateur on Wednesday.
They conceded either side of half-time after the sending off of Connor Glavin and with Andrew Horbury sinbinned, then the hosts added two more.
Bridge had lost 3-1 at leaders Wakefield on Saturday. Nathan Moss opened the scoring for the visitors but Wakefield netted on 65, 80 and 88 minutes. Worsbrough are 16th with 39 points from 30 games.
Wombwell Town suffered a damaging blow to their play-off chances as they lost 3-2 at mid-table Louth Town on Saturday.
The hosts were 3-0 up after half an hour then Eddie Agnew and Kane Reece replied early in the second half.
Town are sixth in the table, one place and three points off the play-off places with 12 games left.