CONFERENCE: WEEKEND ROUND-UP
First point for Forest
Forest Green Rovers finally opened their 2004/05 account on Saturday as new manager Alan Lewer saw his side claim a point from a 1-1 draw against Farnborough Town.
Rovers fell behind to a goal from Farnborough's in-form Lloyd Blackman but pulled level through Charlie Griffin before the interval and had goalkeeper Steve Perrin to thank for preserving a draw when he denied Tony Taggart in the second half.
Bees still buzzing
At the other end of the table, Barnet maintained their three-point lead as they beat Gravesend &Northfleet 4-1 at Underhill.
Three goals in a ten-minute first-half spell sealed a sixth successive victory for The Bees as Liam Hatch struck twice, sandwiching Giuliano Grazioli's eighth of the season. Dean Sinclair hit the fourth for the home side before Fleet's Manny Omoyinmi claimed a late consolation and defender Chris Moore was dismissed after his second booking.
Stanley and Shots in hot pursuit
Aldershot and Accrington Stanley are keeping up the chase behind the leaders as they both won again at the weekend.
The Shots maintained their 100% home record with a comfortable 4-0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge, aided by the sending off of Ashley Vickers for the visitors before the break. Aldershot were already 3-0 ahead by then though, thanks to Tim Sills, John Challinor and Aaron McLean, with Nick Crittenden adding the fourth in the second half and goalkeeper Nikki Bull saving a dubious Daggers penalty.
Stanley's Lee McEvily scored twice to give them a 2-1 win over Leigh RMI, who pulled one back in stoppage time through Michael Byrne but it was too little too late.
Halifax and Hereford on a high
Halifax moved up to fourth in the table with a 1-0 win at Canvey Island as Darren Mansaram hit the only goal of the game just before half time.
Hereford remain level on points with The Shaymen as they climbed to fifth with a single goal against Scarborough, who had Mark Hotte dismissed in the 89th minute. David Brown's first-half header gave him his fourth goal of the season and was enough to earn all three points for The Bulls.
Just Grand for The Cumbrians
Carlisle moved into the top six with a 2-1 triumph over Tamworth at Brunton Park, with recently-signed defender Simon Grand scoring the decisive goal on his home debut quarter of an hour from the end. Karl Hawley hit the first for and Grand headed the second for Paul Simpson's side, before Bob Taylor struck for the visitors late on. A delighted Grand said afterwards: "It was good to start with a goal. I've got Kevin Gray and Tom Cowan either side of me. Playing with them helps me through and I can learn a lot. Hopefully I can stay in the side now and help out, keep things steady back there and do my bit."
Gaia gets Grecians going
Exeter climbed into the top half of the table after beating Stevenage 2-0 at St. James' Park, thanks to goals from Santos Gaia and substitute Steve Flack. The Grecians must now wait to see whether manager Eamonn Dolan will remain in charge however as he considers an approach from Championship club Reading to run their youth academy.
He told BBC Radio Devon on Sunday: "This is a big weekend for me - I've got a lot of thinking to do now. On Thursday and Friday I was 100% focused on getting three points against Stevenage. Certainly by early next week we should shed some light on that."
Speaking about his side's performance, he added: "Not a classic, but it's the first time since I've been manager that we've ground out the result in the second half. I'm very pleased they got a result for us. We started well and got a goal up, then surrendered a bit of the initiative. We are working with the young players to overcome that."
More to come from Morecambe?
Morecambe climbed away from the bottom end of the Nationwide Conference table as they secured their second home win of the season thanks to Danny Carlton's excellent finish against Woking.
Michael Twiss struck the first goal in the 24th minute at Christie Park but the visitors drew level through Scott Canham before Carlton slotted home the winner in the 66th minute.
Tough going for York and Northwich
Struggling side York City and Northwich Victoria failed to find any inspiration at Bootham Crescent on Saturday as they took a point apiece from a goalless draw.
Chris Brass's team dominated much of the match but strike pairing Andy Bishop and Paul Robinson couldn't make the breakthrough despite several chances. Vics keeper Andrew Ralph held firm while Paul Brayson and Jon Allan went close at the other end. Second-from-bottom Northwich are still looking for their first victory of the season while newcomers York remain in 19th place.
