Weekend football round-up: Curzon continue resurgence

Curzon Ashton picked up back-to-back wins for the first time since mid-December in beating Radcliffe 2-1 away on Saturday.

With both sides playing on the front foot, chances came thick and fast during a goalless first half.  

Stefan Mols, Luke Griffiths and Will Hayhurst all stung the fingers of Boro keeper Mat Hewelt, but Bobby Jones was just as busy at the other end to twice deny the in-form Tom Walker. 

Radcliffe wing-back Brad Jackson picked up a second yellow for the home side just after the break, which the Nash capitalised on straight away with a rocket from captain Jimmy Spencer to make it 1-0. 

It was a short-lived lead, however.  

Timi Sobowale clattered Jordan Hulme to concede a penalty that Walker wasted no time in converting to level the scores. 

The setback spurred Curzon on to create two quickfire chances for Isaac Sinclair and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts only for Hewelt’s athleticism to keep their efforts at bay. 

The Nash kept plugging away and their numerical advantage told with ten minutes left. 

Luis Lacey diverted a Conor Falls cross onto the post, but Spencer was there to tidy up and give Curzon their second consecutive 2-1 victory after last week's win against Scarborough. 

The result kept Craig Mahon’s side in 8th place in the National League North, but with games in hand on all the teams around them as they approach the run-in. 

"It was a good game, actually," Spencer said post-match. "They're a physical side and it's a hostile place to come.

"We started slowly, a bit sloppy, but I thought second half we came into the game, created more chances and got the win in the end.

"It's that time of the season where we need to put pressure on ourselves to win games. We need to beat last season's points tally [75 points] - we're on course for doing that, but we need to put pressure on ourselves to keep performing and getting wins."

Ashton United were also on their travels with the long trip to Hebburn Town in the Northern Premier League (NPL). 

Darius Osei’s 40th minute opener enlivened an otherwise even first half, punting past Callum Dobson for his 19th goal of the campaign. 

Hebburn came out swinging in the second half, but it took a cruel deflection from a Liam Murray shot on the hour to beat Connor Eastham - the younger brother of regular Robins stopper, Jordan - on his debut in the Ashton goal to make it 1-1. 

The former Fleetwood Town youngster leapt to Ashton’s rescue moments later when tipping an Olly Martin effort over the bar, followed by another vital save to deny Joe Posthill. 

Steve Cunningham’s side remain in 4th place, eight points clear of the sides chasing the play-off places. 

Hyde United are members of that group after an entertaining 1-1 draw at Ewen Fields against a rough-and-tumble Whitby Town. 

Tigers boss Nick Spooner apologised for his team’s sub-par first half performance, which saw them go into the interval 1-0 down thanks to a pinpoint Layton Watts freekick right on the whistle. 

It was far from one-way traffic, though, with Hyde carving out golden opportunities for Jordan Scanlon and Matt Fearnley only to be spurned by a pair of outstanding stops from the ever-reliable Shane Bland. 

Referee Tom Berry was liberal in brandishing his yellow card, cautioning four players inside the first 20 minutes with arguably only Watts’s flying challenge on Drew Baker deserving of a sanction. 

Jack Redshaw replaced Shakeel Jones-Griffiths at half-time – the freewheeling Hyde midfielder subbed to avoid the wrath of Mr Berry – with the club captain shaking the Tigers to life. 

Whitby were fortunate not to have Michael Woods sent off after he scythed through the back of Ben Kershaw while already on a booking; the visiting bench saw fit to give him the shepherd’s crook straight away instead. 

Soon after, on 59 minutes, Fearnley unleashed a daisy cutter from the edge of the area to level the game. 

Both sides pressed for a winner until Whitby decamped to their own half with ten minutes to go, but the introduction of the mercurial Ayo Quadri and youth team debutante Ricardo Da Costa couldn’t sway things in Hyde’s favour. 

“I thought the first half we were a disgrace,” Nick Spooner said after the game. “We just weren’t at the races and I want to apologise to the fans for that. 

“Second half was much better; we controlled the game and kept them to limited chances and I don’t remember Callum [Hiddleston] making a save. 

“We started to dominate and hitting them with counter-attacks, but we just lacked the quality with the final pass and forced it. 

“It’s the story of our season.” 

Hyde, the reigning Cheshire Senior Cup champions, go to Runcorn Linnets in the semi-final of the competition on Tuesday night. 

With Mossley having a week off, Stalybridge were our sole representatives in the NPL West action. 

However, they went down to a 2-0 defeat at a resurgent Hednesford Town, who are now unbeaten in 12 games. 

Jon Macken’s side found themselves a goal down after 6 minutes when Ahkeem Rose sprinted onto a Nathan Blissett through ball, sliding his shot past the on-rushing Charlie Monks. 

The Pitmen kept Celtic at arm’s length, restricting their visitors to potshots from distance either side of half-time without warming the gloves of Monks themselves. 

Regardless, Bridge found themselves 2-0 down with 15 minutes left when Blissett – the nephew of former England striker, Luther – pounced onto a Jack Bearne cross to put the game to bed. 

It was a grim day in the North West Counties (NWCFL) for our sides, too, with all three going down to defeats. 

In the Premier Division, Abbey Hey left it until the 98th minute to sink Glossop North End, with former Hillmen striker Joel Ankers delivering the decisive blow from a melee in the area. 

New Mills couldn’t build on last week’s Groundhop win, losing 3-1 at Barnton in the NWCFL First Division South.  

James Perry scored the consolation goal for the Millers. 

Meanwhile, Droylsden went down to a rare home defeat against Daisy Hill. 

Jacob Riding’s gave the visitors – who now have YouTuber Aaron Hunt as their Chairman – an early lead, only for Fuad Kasali to draw the Bloods level on 36 minutes. 

Daisy Hill retook the lead two minutes later courtesy of a Kaiden Barlow penalty, and despite mounting Droylsden pressure after the break, Dave Pace’s side couldn’t dig out an equaliser.