SATURDAY DIV 2: Sherburn battle back to sink Ayton in thriller

Defender Tom Clarke's powerful header gave Ayton the lead after 20 minutes, the visitors defending well to keep a depleted Sherburn side at bay.

The points looked to be heading to Ayton when they doubled their lead in the 65th minute, Ian Laing's cool left-footed finish going across stand-in keeper Matty Whitehall and into the net.

This sparked Sherburn into life and they scored five minutes later when Mark Bean's free-kick from inside his own half evaded everyone and went into the Ayton net.

Ten minutes from time the hosts levelled when Liam Scott headed in a fine cross from veteran Nick Bell, and then Sherburn snatched all three points late on when Scott's deflected shot went past the Ayton gloveman and decided the result in Andy Adamson's team's favour.

Adamson said: "We did very well to come back from 2-0 down considering we had four or five players out today. Man of the match has to be Harry Walmsley, who started in goal as we did not have our regular keeper and then came out, with an injured Matty Whitehall replacing him between the sticks, and then had a great game in central midfield as we came back."

Ayton player-boss Sean Pinder said: "After being 2-0 up we collapsed and conceded three sloppy goals, it didn’t help losing Nick Perry to a torn hamstring as he was having a great match.

"Our men of match were Tom Clarke and Joe Bradshaw."

Itis Itis Rovers remain in pole position after their 2-2 home draw against second-placed Scalby.

Unfortunately the windy conditions spoiled this match as a spectacle, Scalby taking the lead five minutes before the interval through top scorer Rob Speight after fine approach play from Ash Townley.

Rovers were on top in the second half with the strong wind at their backs and they levelled from the penalty spot after Sean Bloom had been fouled.

Ali Jones made Rovers' superior possession pay on 70 minutes when he volleyed home from a corner, but two minutes later Itis Itis player-boss Mikey Barker conceded a penalty and Speight slotted home.

The home side piled on the pressure looking to regain the lead and thought they had done when Sam Pickard's effort crashed off the bar but Young missed from six yards with the goal at his mercy.

Barker said: "i had moved myself back into defence and then collided with one of their players in the penalty area, I thought it was quite harsh but it was so similar to the penalty we got that I cannot really have any complaints.

"We dominated in the second half and really should have won the game but the conditions were awful and made it very hard for both sides to play football.

"I am happy that we are still two points ahead of them though, and with a game in hand the title race is still in our hands."

He added: "Sam Pickard was our man of the match as he was superb in central midfield, while Ali Jones also impressed in defence."

Scalby boss Sam Medd said: "I cannot give the man of the match to any individual as the whole team was superb and they all deserve a share of it.

"We are still up there and this is the best Scalby performance for some time, the attitude among the lads has been excellent all season."

Falsgrave Athletic maintained their promotion hopes with a hard-earned 3-2 win at Goldsborough United, despite going behind twice.

Mike Dent opened the scoring for United but Bradley Craggs reacted superbly to fire in a rebound after top work from Clayton Walker.

The home side regained the lead after the break through Ryan Roe, but Falsgrave refused to buckle and Jamie Cornish equalised with a tap-in after fine approach play from man of the match, striker Mark Taylor.

The visitors grabbed all three points thanks to Cornish's second goal almost straight from the restart, centre-back Joe Turner taking the ball past a forward then threading a through-ball to the striker to seal the win for Athletic.

Luke Hansell was named as the United man of the match, while Taylor was star man for Falsgrave, shining up front and also as centre-back later in the match.

Commercial battled back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Old Victoria.

James Day opened the scoring for Old Vic with a cracking 25-yard shot into the top left-hand corner, and held onto this lead until half-time.

Commercial then took full advantage of their turn to have the strong wind at their backs at Oliver's Mount, equalising when Macca Youngson's pullback was tapped in by Chris Millson.

Youngson then headed in Macauley Riley's corner to make it 2-1 and another Riley corner was headed by an Old Vic defender to hand all three points to the away side.

The whole Old Vic side shared their man of the match award after a great performance, while 16-year-old Harry Cooper was Commercial's man of the match, with Adam Smith and Liam Bare, in his first game for six months after being sidelined due to a knee injury, also impressing.