Bolsover win sets up title crunch match with Clay Cross

Everything rests on the crunch-match decider against tabletopping Clay Cross Town after arch rivals FC Bolsover stayed in the Central Midlands League title hunt.
Action from a match between arch rivals Clay Cross Town and FC Bolsover earlier in the season.Action from a match between arch rivals Clay Cross Town and FC Bolsover earlier in the season.
Action from a match between arch rivals Clay Cross Town and FC Bolsover earlier in the season.

Bolsover squeezed a narrow 2-1 victory out of mid-table Harworth on Saturday, leaving them four points behind Clay Cross in the North Division with two games to play.

The first of those games is against The Millers tomorrow night (Wednesday) before both sides tackle their final fixtures of the campaign this coming Saturday.

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To snatch the title, Bolsover have to win on Wednesday night and then hope Clay Cross slip up again at Collingham on Saturday while they win again, against Phoenix. For the Millers, the equation is simple -- beat or even draw against their challengers.

The nerves were certainly jangling at Scrooby Road as Bolsover aimed to bounce back from a costly 1-1 draw against Newark Town in their previous game. But goals from Josh Aitken and Jake Ballinger earned them the precious three points, with Kyle Pashley replying for the home side.

Elsewhere in the division, Tideswell United had a narrow win at Bilsthorpe to consolidate fourth place, with Alex Pugh and James Handley on target. Paul

Leatherland was on the scoresheet for Bilsthorpe.

Newark Town completed an eventually comfortable 6-2 win over bottom team Welbeck Lions after letting a two-goal lead slip. Sam Wilford and Cole Maule put Newark two up with just six minutes played, but a well-struck free-kick by Aidan McTighe and a second from Liam Arnold made it level by the 18th minute. The hosts restored their lead thanks to own goals either side of the interval before a Kieran Wall double ended the scoring.

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Askern also scored six on their visit to Thorne Colliery. Tom Dobbin opened the floodgates on 39 minutes before Askern really found their shooting boots in the second half. Lewis Williams and Jordan McCabe made the game safe and then a hat-trick in the last ten minutes from Chris Telling rounded off the action. Dronfield Town Reserves took their undefeated run to four matches with a 3-1 defeat of Phoenix at Stonelow Road. Goals from Theo Wilson, Adam Robson and Juninho Blake saw Dronfield home, with Sohail Hussain getting a late reply for the visitors.

Meanwhile, the league’s South Division title was clinched by Selston thanks to a 1-0 win in their final match to pip Eastwood Community by a single point.