The NLP’s midweek review: Evo-Stik Premier

By Matt Bishop
It was goals galore in the Evo-Stik Premier last night as play-off chasing Barwell secured a stunning win on the road and recently promoted Farsley Celtic came from behind seal three points in dramatic fashion.
Barwell have their sights set on the top five after sweeping struggling Sutton Coldfield Town aside at Central Ground to win 6-0 and secure their second win over The Royals in four days.
After winning 2-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday, The Canaries claimed three points in the league as goals from Kyle Perry, Eddy Nisevi, Ryan Seal and Dec Towers thrashed a sorry Sutton side who now lie 21st in the league.
While Barwell’s victory was extremely one-sided, Farlsey Celtic‘s amazing win over Stalybridge Celtic couldn’t have been any more end-to-end as Adam Lakeland’s men fought back from 3-0 down to win 5-4.
After 25 minutes of the first half, Stalybridge looked to be cruising as they raced into a three-goal lead, but on the stroke of halt-time, Ben Atkinson and James Walshaw hauled their side back into the contest.
Despite the Villagers having all the momentum, a stunning free-kick from former Brighton striker Liam Dickinson extended the Celts’ lead and looked to have secured maximum points for the away side.
Lakeland’s side don’t know when to give up, though, with Isaac Baldwin smashing a volley home to reduce the deficit once more before Walshaw grabbed his second of the match to level things up.
In an utterly breathless encounter, Kurt Harris sparked jubilant scenes by putting Farsley ahead with 15 minutes remaining, and while Dickinson saw an overhead kick fly just wide, the home side held on to claim a memorable win and go third.
Another side with promotion aspirations, Buxton, rose to sixth in the division as experienced striker Liam Hardy notched a brace to beat mid-table Nantwich Town 3-1.
The Bucks led after Nantwich’s Joe Maguire scored an own goal, but the away side were given a helping hand of their own as Joel Stair put the ball in his own net to level proceedings after 32 minutes.
However, Martin McIntosh’s side flexed their muscles, and showed their play-off credentials, with a commanding second half performance that saw Hardy grab his double and secure three points for the home side.
Just below Buxton are Evo-Stik Premier new-boys Witton Albion, who are impressively building on last season’s promotion to Step 3 to proudly sit in seventh place after they drew 1-1 with Marine AFC.
Marine raced into an early lead when James Edgar put them in front after just 12 minutes, but Will Jones equalised four minutes into the second half to preserve Albion’s unbeaten away record and keep the Whites 13th.
At the very top of the division, Shaw Lane were not in action, so Warrington hoped to top the table at this early stage as they travelled to Workington AFC – but the second-placed side had to be happy with hard-fought point.
After Tony Gray gave the Wire the lead with a well-taken strike, Shaun Reid’s men looked to kick-on and extend their lead, but James Earl scored eight minutes into the second half to secure the home side a valuable point.
At the other end of the table, Whitby Town secured just their second win of the campaign after a five-goal thriller at Ashton United.
The visitors started brilliantly as Liam Tomsett scored after only three minutes, but found themselves behind when Kieran Weledji and Matty Tymon scored either side of the half-time break for the Seasiders.
Nevertheless, Chris Hardy’s Whitby looked to have secured a point tanks to Niall McGoldrick’s own goal three minutes from time, but they wanted more and secured a valuable three points when Dave Carson crashed home a 94th minute penalty to win 3-2.
Mickleover Sports also sealed a second win of the season with Bradley Grayson’s strike the difference against Grantham Town, while just ahead of them are now Coalville Town after their win 2-1 against Matlock Town.
The Ravens led through Blair Anderson’s 10th minute effort, and Adam Yates’ own goal made it 2-0 after half an hour – Shaun Harrad’s second-half penalty was nothing but a consolation in the end as the hosts held on to win.