Football round-up: Tigers top table, but difficult day for Curzon and Glossop

Hyde United charged to the top of the Northern Premier League table on Saturday with a comfortable 4-1 win over Stockton Town at Ewen Fields.

Centre-half Drew Baker scored his first goal for the club on 13 minutes, following up on a Jack Redshaw shot that rebounded off the post. 

Club captain Redshaw made it five goals from as many games as he doubled the home side’s advantage just before half-time, cutting inside a flat-footed Stockton defence and firing past a stricken Nathan Harker. 

The Tigers continued in a similar vein in the second half, with Jordan Scanlon turning Arjun Purewal inside out before blasting home a third. 

Newly promoted Stockton, who are playing at Step 3 for the first time, posed their greatest threat from set pieces, and it was Purewal who twisted in mid-air to head home on his first appearance of the season to make it 3-1. 

Hyde regained their composure, though, with the tireless Connor Heath lashing his debut goal for the club in injury time. 

“It’s just good to get off the mark,” Heath told the club’s YouTube channel. “I’ve got to give credit to Joel [Amado] for making a good 30-or-40-yard run in the 90th-plus minute of the game. 

“I told him after that I nearly passed to him, but he was just happy for me. 

“We’re going into each game confident, but we’ve got a big game on Monday now [against second-placed Macclesfield], so we’ve got to keep level-headed and go over there and get a result.” 

Ashton United remain unbeaten in fourth place after a comprehensive 3-0 win at Hurst Cross against Workington. 

Steve Cunningham’s side kept a third consecutive clean sheet as Louis White, Darius Osei, and a first Robins goal for Tom Denton wrapped up the points. 

It wasn’t such a good afternoon in the National League North for their neighbours Curzon Ashton, though, who succumbed to a disappointing 4-0 defeat at Brackley Town on Craig Mahon’s 50th game in charge. 

The Nash were three goals down by half-time, and although they largely stemmed the tide after the break, it wasn’t enough to prevent them going down to a first defeat of the campaign. 

“It’s a privilege to be in charge for so long at a club like Curzon,” Mahon said after the game. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it – well, apart from today. 

“It’s a difficult one. We’ve been outstanding in the first three games, but we’ve had parts in those where we’ve looked a little bit shaky.  

“Today, we were punished by every mistake we made. Obviously, conceding after two minutes is tough, it gives you an uphill battle straight from the start, and then to concede three more soft goals is not good enough by our standards. 

“These lads have been fantastic for us for a while now, and sometimes you let the guard slip. It’s about learning from these lessons.” 

It was a tough afternoon for our NPL West sides, too. 

Stalybridge Celtic dropped their first points of the season in a goalless draw at Kidsgrove Athletic, but James Kinsey’s defence is proving to be resilient and have yet to concede a goal in the league. 

Mossley were already two goals down at Seel Park by time Will Shepherd saw red against Hanley Town, who almost immediately made it 3-0. 

The Lilywhites make the short hop to Avro in a local derby on Monday. 

It was a mixed day for our teams in FA Vase action. 

New Mills will travel to Goole in the 2nd Qualifying Round after squeezing past Golcar United on a windy day in West Yorkshire. With the scores level at 2-2 at full-time, the Millers won the penalty shoot-out 6-5 thanks to two saves from Joey Oldham. 

Also in the Vase, Nellson Van’s 3rd goal of the season wasn’t enough to stop Droylsden falling at the first hurdle, losing 2-1 at Burscough.  

Glossop North End manager Richard Brodie was shown a late red card as his side were outclassed in a 4-1 home defeat against Irlam. 

The Hillmen’s fifth defeat in six North West Counties games leaves them second bottom of the table. 

Despite only two sides in the lower half of the division having scored more goals than Glossop, Squires Gate are the only side to have shipped more goals. 

Bank holiday Monday fixtures – all 3pm kick-offs: 

Avro v Mossley 
Cammell Laird v New Mills 
Curzon Ashton v Darlington 
Daisy Hill v Droylsden 
FC United v Ashton United 
Glossop North End v Charnock Richard 
Macclesfield v Hyde United 
Stalybridge Celtic v Trafford