The National League Season Review: Who Shone In September?

National League:

Slow-starting Salford started to soar and others may have begun to fear the worst.

Things suddenly changed as they stuck six wins together in September to take control at the top - with Graham Alexander named Manager of the Month.

Leyton Orient weren’t far behind and even thought they were firing in the goals, defender Marvin Ekpiteta got his hands on the Player of the Month award.

Last September Maidstone manager Jay Saunders took the award - a year on he was out of a job as Billericay boss Harry Wheeler took his place.

They were 18th at the end of the month and didn’t know things were about to get spectacularly worse.

They did win at Braintree, who were bottom, thanks to a late Blair Turgott goal.

Dover began badly, but Harrogate were using the momentum from last year and carrying it into the new campaign.

Five excellent wins this month over Boreham Wood, Eastleigh, Havant, Gateshead and Maidstone took them to third.

National League North:

Three titles in as many years wasn’t enough to save Hereford boss Peter Beadle from the axe. After defeat to Brackley Town, Beadle was given his marching orders with the club looking to push on to the EFL.

Neil MacFarlane has his Kidderminster Harriers side firing and wins over Boston United, Blyth Spartans, York City and Altrincham ensured they kept Chorley within arm’s length at the top, but the Magpies remained seven points clear.

Tom Denton’s goalscoring efforts piqued the interest of Martin Allen and Chesterfield leaving Billy Heath with huge shoes to fill.

Spennymoor Town were a team on a mission once again – after starting the month with a draw, wins against Leamington, Nuneaton Borough and Hereford had Jason Ainsley believing his side could take the next step while keeping their feet firmly in the top seven.

Promotion possibilities were the talk of Southport before a ball was kicked but September found the club wanting. Slumped at the bottom of the league, Liam Watson admitted he had some soul searching to do as he looked to arrest the slide.

National League South:

Woking continued their fine start at the expense of Billericay and eventually Harry Wheeler who found himself out of work after just one defeat in eight games.

Gary Owers also slipped to one defeat too many with Torquay United and the Gulls swooped quickly to replace him with Gary Johnson who hit the ground running against Hungerford Town before holding early pace-setters Woking.

It would prove to be a decision nobody at Plainmoor regretted.

Weston-super-Mare looked to be up against it at the bottom after taking just two points from the first two months of football.

Slough Town were almost in a different world to the Seagulls and found themselves within three points of the summit after taking maximum points against Chelmsford, Oxford, Hungerford and Eastbourne – the Rebels also boasted the best defence in the division.

Dean Brennan instilled some positivity at Billericay Town who finished the month top of the pile on goal difference with Woking slipping into second.

After a big summer rebuild, Gary McCann continued to perform miracles with Hampton & Richmond Borough who continued to stay in touch with the leaders.