NPLFA: Matchday Four review

As the NPLFA's students prepared to break for the half-term holidays and recuperate for the busy winter schedule, the nine goals at Radcliffe were followed by 25 more in the four other midweek fixtures.

Radcliffe raced into a four goal lead through Michael Herety with two, Myles Jevons and Joshua Hargreaves.

Sutton responded on the stroke of half-time and then seconds after the break through Tom Riley and Yasin Peart. With the tails now up further strikes from Tom Riley once again and then Jordan Hooper brought the game back to 4-4.

Sutton were unlucky not to take the lead and complete a stunning comeback after hitting the woodwork twice. They also had a goal disallowed and were up against an inspired Joel Fletcher in the Radcliffe goal before Miguel Goncalves slotted home in injury time to condemn them to their first defeat of the season and secure the hosts' first win.

The Birmingham side were overtaken by Belper Town at the summit with a convincing 5-1 win over a depleted Warrington Town side.

The visitors, missing goalkeeper Joe Barlow and several others due to injury, were up against it from the first minute. Stand-in goalkeeper Dylan Emery Woods was unable to prevent the Banana Army striding into a three goal lead after 16 minutes thanks to strikes from Dan Watson, Josh Bullock and Ethan Camm.

Euan Woods continued his record of scoring in every game this season to bring the yellows back into it but two further goals from Gianluca Gandola and Sam Weston sealed the points and ensured Belper sit top going into the half-term break.

There was another stand-in keeper in action in Staffordshire where Leek Town lost 4-2 at home to Matlock Town, Ewan Snow replacing the suspended Corey Bulheller.

Lewis Brown put the Derbyshire side ahead in the 24th minute before Luke Keen extended it in the 41st minute to give the Gladiators a two goal half-time lead.

Ben Edgson scored a third in the 57th minute but minutes later Jack Parkes brought the hosts back into the game. Any chance of a comeback ended when Stephan Travaglione scored his second successive goal to put the game beyond doubt despite Parkes doubling his tally ten minutes later.

There has been an average of six goals per game when Mossley have been playing this season and they travelled to Mickleover Sports Reds to duly take part in a nine goal thriller, this time coming out on top by the odd goal.

Antonia Din Chin scored early on to give Mossley the lead before a Ben Zvekare double gave the hosts the half time advantage. David Wallace put Sports further ahead in the 49th minute before captain Prince Owusu brought Mossley back into the game.

Din Chin grabbed his second and then Beckham Adelaja retook the lead for the Lillywhites in the 59th minute. Mossley were pegged back once again through Lewis Belgrave before Chin secured his hat-trick and the win with five minutes to go.

Champions Mickleover Sports Blacks are still awaiting their first win of the season despite leading until the 93rd minute against Kidsgrove Athletic.

There were two goals in the first ten minutes as Murtaza Haidary gave the visitors the lead in the second minute. Javari Campbell responded immediately for Kidsgrove before Haidary gave the Blacks a half-time lead with a penalty in the 44th minute.

That successful spot-kick looked to have given the inaugural winners their first victory but Callum Brammer had other ideas as he struck to share the points in the 93rd minute.

NPL Youth League Match Day 3 Wednesday 21 October

Radcliffe Borough 5
Team: Fletcher, Granner, Costello, Daniels, Heppenstall, Hargreaves, Herety, Jevons, Loew, Ashcroft, Bowling. Subs: Henderson, Eardley, Hayes, McGuigan, Goncalves.

Sutton Coldfield Town 4
Team: Horne, Light, Christie, Ahmed, Billett, Heath, Stanley, Hooper, Peart, Clement, Riley. Subs: Robothom, Keen, Griffiths, Kohli, Morris.

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Belper Town 5
Team: Mighty, Rodgers, Rathband, Watson, Weston, Higton, Gandola, Craddock, Camm, Taylor, Bullock. Subs: Patrick, Webster, Dronfield, Webster, Bradbury, Repton.

Warrington Town 1
Team: Emery-Woods, Murphy, Woodward, Dunne, Parkinson, Oakley, Webster, Whittle, Woods, McGrath, McQuillan. Subs: Ncube, Wilcock.

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Leek Town 2
Team: Wyatt, Gittens, Knight, Machin, Hall, Bond, Jones, Cope, Snape, Mason, Falconer. Subs: Simpson, Hardy, Parkes, Shepherdson, Bennett, Ward, Harris.

Matlock Town 4
Team: Snow, Travaglione, Marshall, Middleton, Macneil, Blades, Edgson, McAdam, Keen, Banks, Brown. Subs: Hill, Madin, Hitchcock, Moumchi, Gratton.

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Mickleover Sports Reds 4
Team: Barker, Bains, Garbutt, Shahi, Webster-Sanchez, Davies, Zvekare, Belgrave, Besong, Smith, Kelly. Subs: Kabandize Shumba, Hill, Higgins, Wallace.

Mossley 5
Team: Sattar, Barrow, Ali, Norris, Prole, Chukwoma-Adalaja, Yeoman, Lewis, Din Chin, Owusu, Muavia. Subs: De Sa, Mbye, Orme, Hunston.

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Kidsgrove Athletic 2
Team: Beardmore, Saunders, Allerton, Forrest, Burton, Biddulph, Arnold, Rowe, Richings, Campbell, Brammer. Subs: Bebbington, Beech, Everill, Knapper, Rathoor.

Mickleover Sports Blacks 2
Team: Tolley, Gilhooley, Cronin, Hussein, Amiri, Tompkinson, Murphy, Buxton, Haidary, Sanderson, Ward. Subs: Kehal, Ali Rafiq, Khan, Pervez, Tariq.

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* The EVO-STIK NPL is the first league in English football to operate a youth league and academy combining football with further education.

Since being launched in September 2014 at five pilot clubs - Leek Town, Mickleover Sports, Newcastle Town, Radcliffe Borough and Romulus - the NPLFA has more than doubled in size.

Over the course of last season, seven more clubs - Belper Town, Kidsgrove Athletic, Lancaster City, Matlock Town, Mossley AFC, Sutton Coldfield Town, Warrington Town and Witton Albion - announced they were joining their ranks.

Launched with the backing of the Football Association to provide career pathways into the football industry, the NPLFA's 16 to 18-year-old students study on two year courses for Level 3 Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualifications while being trained on a daily basis by UEFA qualified coaches and competing in the NPL Youth League and national competitions like the FA Youth Cup.

Follow the new academy's progress at nplfa.co.uk, twitter.com/NPLFA and at facebook.com/NPLFA

Follow us: @evostikleague on Twitter | The NPL group on Facebook by clicking here: www.facebook.com/groups/TheNPL/