Saturday saw the twelfth round of the Blue Square Premier season take place, and over a quarter of the campaign has now taken place.
Crawley Town maintained their excellent start to the season, moving to nine games unbeaten as they beat Kettering Town 1-0 to stay three points clear. Jon-Paul Pittman's goal after just twelve minutes was enough to see off The Poppies, for whom Exodus Geoghaghan was sent off with twenty minutes left.
Kidderminster Harriers are second at this stage after a 3-2 away win at Eastbourne Borough. Justin Richards and Brian Smekle repeated the feat of both scoring in midweek to put Mark Yates' side 2-0 up at Priory Lane. Despite the efforts of Garry Wilson's men, Kiddy hung on.
The result was one of three matches on Saturday to end with a 3-2 away win. Mansfield Town sit third on goal difference after winning at Salisbury City, their first away win at the sixth attempt. A run of four goals in eleven minutes saw The Stags home and end a run of two home wins in a row for The Citadels.
Weymouth were the other side to win 3-2, benefiting from an own goal, a penalty and an injury time James Coutts winner to see off Northwich Victoria. Just days after their first win of the season, The Vics then tasted their eighth defeat of the campaign.
Burton Albion climbed three places to third after a comeback victory at home to Forest Green Rovers. Rovers have now earned just one point in six fixtures, despite being 1-0 up at The Pirelli Stadium with just over half an hour to play. Keith Gilroy and Marc Goodfellow turned it around, before a Shaun Harrad brace led to a 4-2 win for Nigel Clough's men.
Ebbsfleet United were the only other side to score more than twice on Saturday, Michael Gash continued his recent goalscoring exploits with a brace in their 3-0 win at Barrow. The former Cambridge United man now has five goals in five matches, while Barrow have only one win in eight.
Lewes caused perhaps the biggest upset of the season so far, winning their first match at this level of football and seeing off Oxford United at the same time. Sam Gargan repeated the trick of scoring in Tuesday's draw at Histon by scoring a later winner at The Dripping Pan, the game ending 2-1.
Woking also caused an upset, Wilfred Dormaraud scored the only goal as Histon were beaten 1-0. After eight games with no wins, three have arrived in the last four fixtures for The Cards, suggesting Phil Gilchrist is having a positive effect on his new side.
The final match of Saturday saw Wrexham begin life without Brian Little with a 1-1 draw at home to Torquay United. After four losses in five, the point represents an improvement for The Red Dragons, while Torquay dropped points for the first time in five.
Sunday saw Cambridge United return to winning ways and return to the top five, Lee McEvilly's injury time penalty made Wayne Burnett's start to management at Grays Athletic a losing one.
The final match saw Stevenage Borough and York City play out a 3-3 draw. In a thrilling encounter, Stevenage went two up before then going 3-2 down just after half time, until Steve Morison's second of the game and eighth in five fixtures earned a point. Morison also sits top of the goalscoring chart as his reward.
After Rushden and Diamonds host Altrincham on Monday night, Blue Square Premier action waits until the weekend to return. With just five points between second and twelfth, and only five points between thirteenth and the relegation placings, sides will be desperate to push on from recent results as the season approaches its middle period.
Matt Ramsay
