Clubs celebrate play-off success

A packed house saw Prescot triumph in a Merseyside derby against City of Liverpool at Valerie Park.

More than 2,000 fans were in attendance for the sold out clash, which had to be delayed as a result.

A first half red card for Purps forward Max Allen had them on the back foot and Alex McNally struck the game’s opening goal in stoppage time.

John Murphy doubled Prescot’s advantage in the 65th minute to secure their return to the NPL Premier Division for the first time since 2009.

Harborough Town shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on the Midlands Division league title by winning the play-offs, beating Anstey Nomads 2-0.

They had been the best team in the division across the 38 regular season games, only to be denied by a late points deduction, but they ensured promotion to Step 3.

Kai Tonge scored an early goal to get them on their way after five minutes, but they had to wait until injury time to be sure of progress thanks to Luis Rose.

It was far less straight forward in a north east derby in the East Division which was settled on penalties.

Stockton staged a dramatic late comeback in the normal 90 minutes, Michael Sweet scoring in the sixth minute of injury time to secure a 3-3 draw after they had been trailing 3-1 with 10 minutes to go.

Jack Maskell’s hat-trick goal restored Dunston’s lead at 4-3 in the first half of extra time, only for Kevin Hayes’ equaliser to force a penalty shootout.

Hosts Stockton prevailed on penalties 5-3 in front of a 1,800 crowd.

The NPL Premier Division play-off final between Macclesfield and Marine takes place on Monday (3pm kick-off).

Photo: Darren Murphy