Tranmere Earn Crucial Win - Damaging Defeats For Bottom Two

Micky Mellon`s side won 1-0 at Kingfield against mid-table Woking to move into fifth place, eight points behind leaders Macclesfield Town.

Andy Cook’s 28th minute strike – his 12th goal of the season to date - following Ollie Norburn’s corner proved to be the only goal in a game full of incident and chances.

And then with 10 minutes to go, Cook was dismissed for two bookable offences.

AFC Fylde made it five games unbeaten and eleventh place – just three points now adrift of the play-off places – after beating second-bottom Guiseley AFC 2-1 at Mill Farm.

But the Coasters left it very late!

Jonny Smith gave the home side a 19th minute lead that James Roberts cancelled out on the half-hour mark.

And the visitors looked like holding out for a vital point until 2 minutes from time when Fylde’s top scorer, Danny Rowe, hit a free-kick in from 25 yards that flew into the net.

Guiseley still have a two-point advantage over bottom-markers Torquay United, however, as the Gulls suffered defeat by the same scoreline at Plainmoor against mid-table Eastleigh, for whom this was a sixth league game without defeat.

It started badly for the home side when the Spitfires took an early 9th minute lead when Sam Matthews ran at the heart of the defence and Ryan Clarke was unable to keep out his low shot.

The Gulls equalised after 34 minutes when Jake Gosling picked out Luke Young on the edge of the box and he found the bottom corner.

The visitors restored their advantage in the 71st minute through Gavin Hoyte, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner.

However, Torquay had a great chance to pull back on level terms 8 minutes later when they were awarded a penalty after George Dowling was brought down after a brilliant piece of skill to beat his man.

But Eastleigh `keeper Ross Flitney guessed correctly to save Jamie Reid`s spot-kick.