Round-up: Brocton make it five in a row to boost Midland Premier play-off push
Brocton continued their blistering run of form and surge towards the Midland Premier League play-offs with a narrow victory at 1874 Northwich.
Reg Smith’s second-half strike proved decisive, separating the Badgers from their fellow play-off chasers.
The win was Brocton’s fifth successive league victory - and their fourth clean sheet in that run - lifting them up to sixth in the standings.
Boss Alex Curtis said: "It was a really battling performance. It was a tough surface and definitely a game of two halves with the big slope they have there.
"We had a really difficult start to the season. We have won 11 of the last 12 and are definitely back in the mix again.
"We have put ourselves right in with a massive chance of getting in the play-offs, or certainly battling to get in them.
"It will be about how we get on between now and the end of the season. The league table is interesting, there are two halves - a top 10 and a bottom eight.
"There are eight teams in the top 10 that are fighting for three places in the play-offs. We have now got ourselves to a position where we have the best chance with the number of games we have got and could finish the highest of those teams."
Elsewhere, fellow play-off contenders AFC Wolverhampton City let a two-goal lead slip as they were held by promotion-chasing Hanley Town.
Jake Pearson and Joe Clarke put Wolverhampton in control against the second-placed side. However, Lewis Porter converted a 70th-minute penalty before Max and Tommy Van Der Laan - sons of former Port Vale favourite Robin Van Der Laan - combined for a late equaliser.
It was Wolverhampton’s third successive league draw, leaving them fourth in the table.
Dudley Town slipped to a 3-0 home defeat against Winsford United, remaining ninth and five points adrift of the play-off places.
In Midland One, Smethwick Rangers were unable to recover after trailing 3-1 at half-time at Leicester St Andrews, to suffer their sixth loss in a row in all competitions.
Tyler Wilson gave Smethwick the perfect start with a goal inside five minutes, but the hosts hit back strongly before the break. Wilson grabbed his second in the 70th minute, though it proved only a consolation in their 3-2 defeat.
In the North West Counties League Division One South, title-chasing Eccleshall had their wings clipped and saw their winning streak ended with a 1-0 defeat at Ashville.
The Eagles had won their previous five league matches and now sit seven points behind leaders Runcorn Town.
Meanwhile, Stafford Town eased past Market Drayton Town with a 3-0 victory courtesy of goals from Callum Parker, James Rowland and Patryk Mazurkiewicz. The result lifted Town back into the play-off places in fourth.
