FC Oswestry’s hopes hit as leaders march on

Unbeaten in their previous seven games, with six wins and a draw, Town were downed by the Warrington-based league leaders who have now opened up a commanding 10-point gap at the top.

Manager Matt Burton admitted the visitors were second best against strong opponents who ground out a result on a testing surface.

“Over the 90 minutes, they were better than us, and it was disappointing that we did not give a good account of ourselves,” he said.

“But credit to the lads who have been brilliant, and we now need to regroup and look to finish second.”

The Oswestry side fell behind to Stu Wellstead’s opener on 25 minutes and crucially conceded a second from Tom Freeman two minutes from half-time.

That goal left them with an uphill task, and despite their efforts in the second period, there was no way through a strong Rylands side who sealed the points through Warren Gerrard’s last-minute strike.

Town have been hit by more injuries with Mike O’Reilly having a scan to discover the extent of his knee problem.

St Martins fell to a fourth straight defeat after slumping 6-2 to New Mills, who took the game by the scruff of the neck with a quickfire hat-trick from Remeece Brown in the second half.

The Park Hall encounter started well enough for the Saints with Shawn Mellusi opening the scoring after just two minutes when nodding in a Jordan Davies cross.

But the visitors hit back to lead 3-1 at the break, first levelling with a penalty from Joe Rothwell following a foul by Stuart Dickin.

They were ahead through George Whyment, and added a third courtesy of Liam Delaney.

The Saints hit back when Melusi headed his second on 57 minutes, but Brown netted three times in the next seven minutes.

Ellesmere Rangers kept alive hopes of escaping the drop after overcoming Alsager Town 2-0. Charlie Fletcher and Gregory Cork scored.