NORTH: WEEKEND ROUND-UP

Alfreton get that Friday feeling
A nine-minute Peter Duffield hat-trick at the start of the second half gave Alfreton Town their first win over Runcorn in eight attempts at the Impact Arena on Friday night.

Mick Godber grabbed the other goal for David Lloyd's men as they romped to a 4-0 victory to stretch their lead at the top of the Nationwide North.

Hinckley United were hoping to follow Alfreton's example to keep themselves within three points of the Derbyshire side, but they could only manage a 3-3 draw against Droylsden having seen a 2-1 half-time lead turned into a 3-2 deficit before Paul Barnes hit the equalizer with his second of the game.

Harrogate meanwhile kept the pressure on the top two as they maintained their unbeaten start to the season at Wetherby Road with a 2-0 win against Worcester City; Colin Hunter and James Turley getting the goals for Town.

Kettering sink Sandgrounders
Kettering and Southport are two teams with serious ambitions to return to the Nationwide Conference, but it was the visitors who showed their potential promotion credentials at Haig Avenue on Saturday as they recorded an impressive 3-1 win.

Darren Lynch and Ollie Burgess put Kettering 2-0 up and though the home side pulled one back through Terry Fearns, Chris Difante secured the points for the visitors with a tap-in following a spilled shot late on, condemning Southport to their third successive defeat. The two clubs are now level on points in the table, with Kettering in fifth, one place above their beaten opponents on goal difference.

Just below them lie Altrincham, who enjoyed a narrow victory over a strong Nuneaton Borough team at Moss Lane to move up to seventh place, level with local rivals Droylsden.

No quarter given in mid-table clashes
Redditch and Lancaster, and Worksop and Stafford failed to produce a single goal in their respective meetings at The Valley Stadium and Babbage Way. The former two teams remain locked on 16 points in ninth and tenth positions, along with Worksop, while Rangers are just a point behind, level with Worcester, who lost to Harrogate.

Hucknall are also on 15 points after a convincing 3-0 win at Barrow. Nathan Winder was the man of the match for the visitors, who took the lead through a Steve Flitcroft own goal. Alistair Asher doubled Hucknall's advantage in the second half, picking the ball up near halfway and unleashing an unstoppable shot from 30 yards, and Danny Bacon wrapped things up with a neat run and chip with 20 minutes remaining.

Bradford boosted by basement battle victory
Bradford (Park Avenue) claimed their first away win of the season, running out 4-1 victors against Stalybridge at Bower Fold to move above the Celtic at the wrong end of the table. Following a midweek defeat to bottom team Vauxhall Motors, Carl Shutt's men responded in the right fashion as Phil Reilly, Ben Jones, Nathan Wharton and commentator's nightmare Steve Oleksewycz scored the goals that gave 'The Brackets' (as I like to call them) a crucial victory.

Vauxhall's Motormen earned another three points to keep themselves in touch and move level with Stalybridge as they defeated Gainsborough 1-0, while a goal in each half ensured that Moor Green retained a narrow advantage over the bottom three.