Happy Days (at the top)

I have to be delighted with the defensive work of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He may have missed three good chances but he put in three perfect tackles which for a forward is very impressive. That is my over-riding memory of the match but Alexander Lacazette scored a goal of a high standard firing the ball in to the top of the net at the near post.

Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0

The gap is now only three points. It could have been nine points if Chelsea had won. It means a lot and even more considering the result against West Ham last week.

Rotherham 2 Brentford 4

Another good result for one of my teams. Kamohelo Mokotjo opened the scoring after two minutes but Rotherham equalised after twenty. The score stayed that way until Said Benrahma put Brentford into a 2-1 lead in the 53rd minute. Rotherham did not score again but Ezri Konsa Ngoyo put the ball into his own net in the 73rd minute to make the score 2-2. Kamohelo Mokotjo scored his second two minutes later to give Brentford the lead for the third time and Neal Maupay got the fourth in the 85th minute.

Two out of two.

Bradford City 0  Southend United 4

Stephen Humphrys scored twice on his debut as Southend thrashed Bradford at Valley Parade to record their sixth away win of the season.

The Fulham striker, who spent the first half of the season on loan at Scunthorpe, doubled Southend's half-time lead by adding their third and fourth goals after the break.

Bradford, who slip to second-bottom with the defeat, had won their previous four home matches without conceding but the visitors went in front after just 72 seconds.

Bantams right-back Paul Caddis tried to intercept a cross but the ball flew into the path of Simon Cox, who scored with a superb right-footed shot into the far corner.

Southend increased their lead after 26 minutes when the Bradford defence failed to clear a throw-in on the left and the ball came out to Sam Mantom, who scored with a first-time shot.

Humphrys put paid to any hopes Bradford might have had of a second-half revival by scoring Southend's third goal nine minutes after interval.

He robbed defender Anthony O'Connor of the ball as he tried to head it back to Richard O'Donnell and took it round the goalkeeper before slotting it into the net.

Humphrys then completed the scoring with a fine left-footed shot from 20 yards out after cutting in from the right.

Bradford, who were booed off the field at half-time and at the end of the match, had only one direct effort on target - a close-range header from George Miller which was palmed over the bar by keeper Nathan Bishop just before Southend's third goal.

Match report supplied by the Press Association.

Three out of three.

Newport County 1 Exeter City 0

A defeat at last. I am using the match report from the BBC website.

Newport County secured their first League Two win since November as Jamile Matt's goal proved enough to beat Exeter.

Matt broke the deadlock with 19 minutes remaining, scoring from close range to give Mike Flynn's side a boost ahead of next Saturday's FA Cup trip to Middlesbrough.

Ryan Bowman had Exeter's best chance with his effort hitting the crossbar.

Newport remain 13th in League Two while Exeter stay eighth.

Newport County manager Mike Flynn said: "It's an important three points. I'm over the moon because the boys have dug deep.

"They've really worked hard to try and get this and change it to get it right.

"They got their rewards today because without being great in the final third I thought we were the better team and created the most chances."

Three out of four.

Eastleigh 3 Sutton United 2

Eastleigh improved their chances of a National League play-off place as Ben Williamson's late goal earned them victory over Sutton.

The hosts got off to a quickfire start when Andrew Boyce bundled home from close range after Mark Yeates' corner caused chaos in the Sutton penalty area.

But the visitors were level two minutes before the break when Gime Toure latched onto a long ball and rounded Eastleigh goalkeeper Luke Southwood, despite the efforts of Reda Johnson who slipped as he looked to dispossess the forward, before tapping into an empty net.

Eastleigh regained the lead just after the hour-mark when Josh Hare fired home from range, although visiting goalkeeper Ross Worner may have felt he could have done better.

Brett Williams looked to have earned a point for the visitors when the striker glanced in Harry Beautyman's 66th-minute cross.

However, Williamson headed in with two minutes remaining to snatch victory, which leaves Eastleigh three points adrift of Sutton in the final play-off place.

Match report supplied by the Press Association.

Four out of five.

Truro City 3 Weston-super-Mare 3

A good result considering the season so far. The Weston goals were scored by Eli Phipps in the 8th minute and Jennison Myrie-Williams in the 44th and 57th minutes. Match report comes from the Truro website.

THE WHITE Tigers shared the spoils in a 3-3 draw with Weston super Mare at Treyew Road.

It was the visitors who created the first opening early on but we went the closest when new-boy, Michael Herve rattled the woodwork with just five minutes on the clock. There was a good save from Rivers to deny Hill but it wasn’t long before he was beaten when Phipps curled a free-kick beyond the reach of the ‘keeper to give the visitors the lead.

With their tails up, Jackson went close with a deft header from a free-kick but we managed to ride the storm when a corner found the head of Connor Riley-Lowe with Jamie Richards possibly getting a touch as the ball found its way into the net. The pendulum then started to swing in our favour as the lively Herve went close whilst a free-kick from Riley-Lowe was headed just wide by Richards.

We got our noses in front when a corner wasn’t properly cleared and Herve was presented with an opportunity which he grabbed with both hands. Our lead lasted barely three minutes before Myrie-Williams slotted the ball home with just a couple of minutes to go until the interval.

We were able to regain our lead with the first attack of the second half as Herve applied the finish for his second goal of the afternoon on his debut. Again we were not able to hold on to the lead for too long as Phipps and Harrison combined well for Myrie-Williams to beat Rivers and make it 3-3.

There was still half-an-hour to go and we’d already had six goals. Phipps went close from distance for the visitors whilst Rivers saved with his feet to deny Jackson. Rivers did well again to thwart Gethyn whilst Harvey went close at the other end as the closing stages saw both sides search for a winner but it was not to be as honours ended even.

Four and a half out of six.

Hendon 2 Tiverton Town 2

Match report from the Tiverton website:

Yellows battle back to take a point

 Depending on which half of the latest match you watched would sway your decision to this question. One point gained or two dropped ? If you had seen only the first half, definitely a point gained but in stark contrast, with only the second half taken in, you would say two points dropped. At the interval the Yellows trailed by two.

 Giant midfielder Bayley Brown opened the scoring after ten and Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick doubled the hosts lead ten minutes later and only some last ditch defending and wayward shooting prevented their lead being more as Hendon looked like making a mockery of their recent form that had seen them lose eight straight league matches.

 At the full time whistle though, the hosts would have been delighted with the point they got after the Yellows stormed back in to the match, scoring twice in three minutes, Levi Landricombe with his fifteenth of the campaign on forty-eight before Tom Bath headed in from close range on fifty-one and as Hendon had in the first half, the Yellows passed up on glorious opportunities to score more.

 Absentees for the latest fixture were captain Jamie Price (ill), Tom Gardner (wrist) and Lewis Tasker who has joined Wellington so again numbers were thin on the ground, the cause for the future made worse when Ben Mammola left the field on a stretcher in the final minutes, early fears of a potential break were dismissed but ligament damage a possibility and so faces a spell out of the side and the cause for the day also hampered when Davis, making his return from suspension, didn’t make half time (unwell) and was replaced by Tom Bath and by the time Bath entered the fray the damage in the first half was done.

 Pre-match talk, before an impeccably observed period of silence in memory of Hendon legend Dermot Drumy, was about the need for not giving away needless fouls and inviting pressure as Hendon, blessed with height amongst their ranks, would be able to capitalise with Mammola as the only recognised central defender, pre-match warnings that were not heeded as after just ten minutes Davis fouled Lewis Toomey, Hendon captain Lee Chappell swung in the resulting free kick from their left and Brown was on hand to tap in from close range after the ball had fallen kindly to him.

 Brown then turned provider as he flicked on a big free kick from Hendon keeper Danny Boness on twenty minutes which was eventually worked on to Hippolyte-Patrick who, from the edge of the area, fired high past Armstrong for the hosts second. For all the hosts superiority thus far though, only a coat of paint and possibly some goal line technology stopped the Yellows from reducing their half time deficit, from an Isaac Furness free kick just after half an hour Josh Key headed against the crossbar and the follow up from Yetton was adjudged not to have crossed the line.

 As good as the hosts were in the first period, the second half was a polar opposite and whatever manager Martyn Rogers said during the break worked a treat. Levi Landricombe had already fired narrowly wide before he reduced the arrears on forty-eight minutes, as he took Tom Baths lay-off first time and curled home league goal fifteen from the edge of the area and just three minutes later the two combined again for the equaliser.

 Man of the Match for his tireless work up and down the Yellows left wing Callum Hall was fouled, Levi Landricombe swung in the free kick and Bath gambled at the near post and headed home his seventh league goal. Boness in the Hendon goal could do nothing about two of the three shots he`d faced in the early part of the second period but were it not for his performance for the remainder of the half, the Yellows would surely have completed the turnaround, twice denying Levi Landricombe another goal and most notably when a brilliant point blank save denied Yetton with a quarter of an hour to play.

Tiverton: Liam Armstrong, Josh Key, Isaac Furness, Ben Mammola (Scott Rogers 90+1), Michael Landricombe, Max Smallcombe, Harrison Davis (Tom Bath 38), Steve Colwell, Stewart Yetton, Levi Landricombe, CALLUM HALL.

Goals: Levi Landricombe 48, Tom Bath 51

Attendance: 252

 Five out of seven.