Mullin’s double act eases way for U’s
PAUL MULLIN scored twice as League Two leaders Cambridge moved four points clear at the top with a 3-0 win at Mansfield.
Mullin (below) netted in the 57th and 65th minutes to take his tally for the season to 22 league goals, before Harvey Knibbs added an effort in stoppage time.
Cheltenham, in third, lost 2-0 at home to
Bradford for whom Andy Cook scored both of the goals.
Morecambe moved up from eighth to fourth after winning 2-1 at second-bottom
Barrow.
Aaron Wildig and Kelvin Mellor scored either side of the break for the visitors before Scott Quigley’s reply.
Salford are fifth following a 1-1 home draw with Carlisle while
Tranmere also drew at home, being held 2-2 by
10-man Oldham. Southend remain a point ahead of Barrow in
22nd place after a late Shaun Miller goal condemned them to a
1-0 home loss to Bolton.
Port Vale’s first match under Darrell Clarke ended in a 1-1 draw at
Leyton Orient. David Worrall gave Vale the lead and Daniel Kemp equalised just after the hour mark.
Clarke’s former club
Walsall, now with Brian Dutton in charge, also drew 1-1 – at
Stevenage.
The Saddlers led through a first-minute Caolan Lavery effort before having Liam Kinsella sent off 11 minutes into the second half. Elliott List then levelled in the
70th minute.
Crawley beat
Colchester 1-0 at home courtesy of James Tilley’s stoppage-time goal.
And Scunthorpe won
3-1 at home against
Harrogate.
After Devarn Green’s early opener for the Iron was cancelled out by a Josh March penalty, Ryan Loft restored the hosts’ lead and Lewis Spence wrapped things up late on.
DECLAN RICE is providing David Moyes with the inspiration to constantly seek improvement at West Ham. The Hammers go into today’s clash with London rivals Tottenham riding high in the European places and boss Moyes knows that if he can keep them in contention for a top-six finish, he can send a message to the talismanic Rice that he doesn’t have to move to fulfil his ambitions.
The Scot (left) said: “Declan is pushing me to improve the team because I’m looking at him and saying, ‘You’re an England international, possibly a future England captain, and you want me to get you good players. Good players you can play with and who want to get better’.
“So every day I look at him, I think, ‘My goodness, he’s making me find better players to make West Ham better’.
“And I think Declan will always be here as long as he thinks I’m going to try to get him good players and players he thinks will help the team.
“So hopefully he will have liked the way we’ve gone forward and think we’ve
bought good players. For the likes of Declan (right) and the players we’ve got, I want them to see we’re building for the future.
“I want this level to be continuous if it can be.
“Being in the European positions, and I’ve been here a few times, makes a big difference to how players perceive your club.
“And when you have a big club in London it’s always an attraction.
“If we could finish near the top it makes us more attractive in the future.”
Moyes has made some clever signings with Tomas
Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen having an impact.
On-loan Jesse Lingard has hit the ground running and his boss is delighted with the impact the Man United man is having.
Moyes said: “Jesse has helped us by playing the way he has and being the good team player he is.
“Bringing character into the football club isn’t always that easy.
“Soucek and Coufal have been unbelievable, every character adds to the dressing room.”