NCEL round-up: Frickley Athletic, Hemsworth MW, Glasshoughton Welfare, Wakefield AFC, Horbury Town and Nostell MW in action

​The Blues raised hopes of taking all three points when they took the lead in the second half, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

In a feisty affair there were plenty of hard challenges and Frickley needed to have Harrison Davison-Hale in good form as he made a string of decent saves to ensure the sides went in at the break level.

It was the hosts who broke the deadlock on 59 minutes when Isaac Jeffreys won possession and found Lloyd Smith whose through ball set up Alhassane Keita to coolly notch his 11th goal of the season.

Richard Collier had a good chance to double the lead soon after, but was unable to direct his free header past the keeper.

Barton were level in the 74th minute when former Frickley forward Sam Cable headed home.

Nervy moments followed for both sides in the closing stages, but it stayed 1-1 until the final whistle.

Frickley were quickly back at home on Tuesday night when up against second from bottom Bottesford Town and earned another draw thanks to a 90th minute goal as Ben Hall smashed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

It was shaping up to be a frustrating night when Brandon Murillo sent a shot over, Lloyd Smith saw an effort saved at the second attempt and then went within inches of opening the scoring with a shot that hit the crossbar.

Appeals that the ball had bounced over the line fell on deaf ears and within a minute Bottesford scored as a shot went in off Elliot Owen for an unfortunate own goal.

Several more chances went begging after the break, but the Blues persevered and came up with their late equaliser following a scramble in the box.

The result kept Frickley nine points ahead of second from bottom Bottesford, but they face a tough task to pick up any points this Saturday when away to leaders North Ferriby and next Tuesday at home to second-placed Winterton Rangers.

Hemsworth MW were unable to halt North Ferriby’s charge towards the Premier Division title as they lost 4-2 to the runaway leaders at home.

Ferriby were quickly in control with goals in the first eight minutes from Danny Earl and Joshua Dennett and added two more to be 4-0 up at half-time with Dennett netting again and Amir Berchill scoring.

Hemsworth improved after the break when they produced a spirited display and were rewarded with goals on 70 and 80 minutes from Jakub Hebda and Harry Viggars.

The result left Wells in sixth place and they face 13th-placed Thackley away this Saturday.

Adam Priestley sends Pontefract Collieries on way to victory over top five Dunston

Wakefield AFC were left frustrated when their goal-laden winning run was ended by a goalless draw at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic in Toolstation NCE Division One.

Mid-table Worsbrough proved hard to break down and Wakefield’s cause was not helped when they lost returning striker Jake Morrison to a red card in the second half – 10 minutes after he came on as substitute – and had to play the last half-hour with 10 men.

Despite playing the first half uphill, Wakefield had the better of the chances with Kieran Ceesay nearly scoring in the first minute for the second game in succession.

The half ended goalless with the expectation that Wakefield would press on with the downhill advantage in the second half. Hopes were raised further with the early introduction of last season’s top scorer Morrison, making his return from a long injury lay-off.

Things took a sour turn, though, when first star man Billy Mole went off injured, before Morrison was red carded.

It was a controversial decision as immediately before the incident in question, Morrison had ridden two dangerous looking challenges, one of which was in the box and could have easily been a penalty.

Morrison reacted by pulling an opposition player to the ground, and as a result was shown a harsh red card.Wakefield still played out the final 30 minutes with 10 men as the more dominant looking side, but neither team looked like scoring and both had to settle for a point. The result sees Wakefield drop to fifth, but with games in hand on fourth placed Staveley MW.

"We needed to be calmer and got a bit anxious about scoring in the first half,” said manager Gabe Mozzini.

"In the second half we should have controlled the game a bit better and then we got the red card, which made it even worse.

"I think based on the referee’s previous calls in this game a yellow should have been enough, they were pulling Jake and he pushed him. But we cannot control the calls referees make and what he did different referees would give a red card. We just cannot do that.”

Fifth-placed Wakefield face a key game this Saturday at home to Harrogate Railway Athletic, who are in third. They also host struggling Swallownest next Tuesday.

Sixth-placed Horbury Town put up a battling effort, but were unable to stop the run of runaway leaders Campion as they lost 2-0 to goals on 24 and 90 minutes by Aidan Kirby and Patrick Sykes.

A local derby follows this Saturday with Town at home to Nostell MW.

Nostell go into the game off the back of a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Selby Town.

Liam Flanagan’s 90th minute penalty decided the points after he had also scored from the spot early on only for Harvey Booth to equalise three minutes before half-time.

Glasshoughton Welfare raised further hopes of avoiding the drop from Division One as they made it back to back home victories with a 2-0 success against fellow strugglers Shirebrook Town.

Harrison Rowley sent them on the way to the victory with a goal after just two minutes.

Shirebrook had a player sent-off just before half-time and could not break through a strong home defence after the break.

It was Welfare who scored a second goal late on when George Mwale found the net following a goalmouth scramble.

The win lifted Glasshoughton out of the bottom two with Shirebrook now second from bottom, two points behind, albeit with three games in hand.

Welfare will be hoping to maintain this new momentum when they travel to play fourth from bottom Swallownest this Saturday.