Carlisle move further away from relegation zone with a 2-1 win
CARLISLE made it five wins from six to ease their increasingly faint relegation fears with a 2-1 victory at fellow Cumbrians Barrow.
Kristian Dennis and Jordan Gibson gave Carlisle a two-goal advantage but Ollie Banks’ strike on 78 minutes was not enough to earn a result for Barrow. The result means the visitors, who have been transformed since
Paul Simpson took over on February 23, are now 12 points clear of relegation.
Exeter closed the gap to league leaders Forest Green to five points with a 2-0 win over Oldham, who plunged deeper into relegation trouble. Kyle Taylor gave the Grecians the lead when he nodded home from Jake Caprice’s cross in the 52nd minute before Nigel Atangana was given a red card in stoppage time.
However, Exeter sealed all three points as Jevani Brown finished off a counter attack to lift them into second, while the Latics’ run without a win was extended to six games.
Oldham remain three points from safety with a tricky run-in to the season that will see them face six of the league’s top-10 teams in the final 10 games of the season.
Bristol Rovers continued their fine run of form and are only out of the automatic promotion places on goal difference after they earned a 1-0 victory over fellow promotion contenders Northampton. Rovers went ahead after just 38 seconds when Harry Anderson latched onto a poor backpass from Jon Guthrie.
Scunthorpe are on the brink of relegation after they suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Salford thanks to a Brandon Thomas-asante hat-trick.
Matt Smith and Thomas-asante put Salford two up at the break but Joe Nuttall pulled one back for the visitors before the hosts ran riot with a goal from Thomas Kelly and another two from Thomas-asante. Port Vale boosted their play-offs hopes with a 2-1 win over Bradford at the Utilita Energy Stadium.
Ben Garrity gave Vale the lead before former Manchester United striker James Wilson doubled their lead when he dispatched into the bottom corner.
Crawley ended a run of five games without a win with a 3-1 victory over Swindon at The People’s Pension Stadium.
Kwesi Appiah gave the hosts the breakthrough when he nodded in James Tilley’s cross but Swindon drew level five minutes after half-time through Josh Davison.
Crawley were not to be denied though when Tom Nicholls was on hand to tap in after Isaac Hutchinson’s effort deflected off the crossbar and Hutchinson later got his goal in stoppage time to seal all three points.
Calum Kavanagh scored deep into stoppage time to snatch a point from Walsall in a 1-1 draw after Conor Wilkinson scored from the penalty spot to put the Saddlers in front.
Leyton Orient came from a goal down to win their first game in 16 with a 3-1 victory over Rochdale.
Alex Newby gave Dale the lead but strikes from Paul Smyth, Ruel Sotiriou and Harry Smith gave Richie Wellens his first win in charge of Orient.
Sutton are now without a win in three after they drew 1-1 with promotion contenders Tranmere.
Ben Goodliffe gave Sutton the lead quarter of an hour into the contest but Joshua Hawkes equalised with 20 minutes to go and are level on points with Northampton, who occupy the final automatic promotion spot.