Town hit summit after demolishing Heys

THE battle of the top two in the Premier Division of the FBT Manchester Football League saw Royton Town leapfrog Prestwich Heys with a stunning 4-1 victory at the Oldham Academy North.

Danny Gilmartin netted twice for Town – unbeaten in 13 games – with Carl Caffrey and Alan Beckett also on target.

This was the third match in a row in which Town have scored four goals and manager Mark Howard said: “I don’t know if that’s a record for the club, but I have to say this was a superb performance from us.

“Prestwich are still the favourites to win the title, even though they are three points behind us, because they have three games in hand.

“I would love to see this group of players playing at a higher level and by that I mean for Royton Town because we would love to be in the North-West Counties League. That can’t happen yet because we don’t have the facilities to meet the requirements of the league, but progression is always in our thoughts.”

Uppermill drew 3-3 at home against Boothstown. Jake Jacobs, Gerard Forde and Steven Slack were on target.

In a local derby, Avro needed a last-minute equaliser following a highly-entertaining 1-1 draw at home against Springhead.

The opening 80 minutes saw both sides trade chances, with Avro striking the crossbar twice and ’Head going close through Ryan Fagan and Paul Stevenson.

It was Stevenson who broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute from the penalty spot after Fagan had been fouled.

Mike Barnes-Gott bagged a point for Avro late on, before the hosts almost nicked victory in the dying seconds when sub Steve Gavin hit the woodwork.

Hollinwood secured a morale-boosting 5-3 home win against Beechfield United in Division One, while Chadderton’s second string lost 2-1 at home Wilmslow Albion.