League Two round-up

Peter Thorne fired a hat-trick to accelerate Notts County's slide down League Two at Valley Parade.

The only surprise was that it took 34 minutes for Bradford to turn their superiority into goals — Thorne scoring from close range after Lee Bullock had turned a corner goalwards. And just before the hour, he put the result beyond doubt, peeling away from his marker to meet a Paul Evans corner with a cushioned volley. Thorne saved the best until last with a spectacular last-minute strike to clinch his treble.

Brentford 2 Chesterfield 1

Gary Smith and Glenn Poole were on target as Brentford continued their recent revival under manager Andy Scott,who has lost only one game since taking over five weeks ago and his side have recorded five wins.

Scott took over as caretaker-manager from Terry Butcher and was given the post on a full-time basis nine days ago.

Jack Lester cancelled out Smith's 25th-minute opener with a shot into the corner of the net but Poole had the last word with a thunderbolt winner after 61 minutes.

Chester 0 Mansfield 1

Matt Hamshaw's second-half strike earned struggling Mansfield crucial points.

The midfielder struck in the 48th minute to give his team their first away win in the league this season,lifting them to within two points of safety.

Mansfield keeper Carl Muggleton then made a string of super saves to deny Chester and his boss, Billy Dearden, said: "Carl was outstanding."

Chester boss Bobby Williamson said: "We gave them the points. Some of our players didn't stand up when we needed them."

Darlington 3 Bury 0

Darlington won for the first time in four matches to move closer to the promotion places.

They took the lead after 12 minutes when Tommy Wright side-footed his 11th of the season, and Ian Miller doubled the advantage from six yards 10 minutes later. The home side should have made the game safe when Wright just had the keeper to beat, but Jim Provett saved well.

Paul Mayo found the bottom corner after 58 minutes to make it three,while Pawel Abbott and Gregg Blundell missed good chances.

Grimsby 1 Wrexham 0

Danny North scored a controversial goal against bottom club Wrexham to give Grimsby their fifth successive win.

A long ball from skipper Tom Newey in the 68th minute put North through and Grimsby's leading scorer ran on to flick the ball over keeper Gavin Ward. It was cleared but the linesman ruled the ball had crossed the line.

With six changes, including four new signings, Wrexham put up a plucky show but failed to really threaten.

In a dramatic second half referee Graham Salisbury was injured and replaced by his assistant.

Lincoln 1 Rotherham 3

Derek Holmes scored a hat-trick as promotion-chasing Rotherham exposed Lincoln's defensive frailties.

Holmes's finishing was the difference between the teams but he was gifted his goals by the home team.

Lincoln, fighting to stay in the Football League, almost went behind after five minutes when Mark Hudson was left unmarked but his shot hit a post.

The home side counter-attacked but Ben Wright was also denied by the woodwork. The opening goal arrived in the 24th minute after three defenders failed to clear Chris O'Grady's cross, leaving Holmes with a tap-in.

Lincoln were again saved by the woodwork four minutes later when defender Lee Ridley hit an attempted clearance against his own bar.

Lincoln drew level after 55 minutes due to a mix-up in the Rotherham defence which let in Jamie Forrester.

But the visitors were back in front two minutes later, with Holmes making no mistake from a free header.

Rotherham tied up the game six minutes from time when the Lincoln defence stood and watched as Holmes side-footed in.

Lincoln's misery was compounded in stoppage time as substitute Shane Clarke was dismissed for a bad challenge on Hudson.

Disappointed Lincoln manager Peter Jackson said: "Teams come here and score goals too easily. It's down to a lack of concentration.

"Rotherham are one of the best teams in this division but if we had kept a clean sheet we would have won the game."

Rotherham boss Mark Robins said: "We knew it was going to be tough.We settled into a good rhythm and our players deserve credit."

MK Dons 0 Barnet 1

Ismail Yakubu scored his first goal of the season as table-topping Milton Keynes crashed to their fourth home League defeat this campaign, failing to score for only the second time this term.

Yakubu slotted in from close range in the 22nd minute after Jason Puncheon's low cross sneaked through a sea of bodies.

The Dons, who thought Yakubu was offside, were furious at linesman Amy Rayner, who raised her flag and then promptly put it down.

Sean O'Hanlon and Dons skipper Keith Andrews wasted good chances to level.

Morecambe 1 Dagenham-Redbridge 0

Morecambe kept up their charge into play-off contention with their fifth win in six games via Matty Blinkhorn's sixth goal in seven games.

With their former Conference rivals Dagenham looking all set for a desperately needed away point, Morecambe's Wayne Curtis crossed for Blinkhorn to head past debutant keeper Ed Thompson two minutes into injury time.

Thompson pulled off a fine penalty save from Carl Baker but the visitors had wasted a great chance when new loan signing Ryan Hall headed over from close range after 16 minutes.

Peterborough 0 Macclesfield 1

Macclesfield, missing their two top strikers and with four debutants, embarrassed their big-spending hosts. The lowly outfit, managed by Ian Brightwell, gained a priceless success after surviving much of the second half with 10 men.

Izak Reid scored the only goal in the 37th minute and furious Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said: "To go from knocking Colchester out of the FA Cup to this in the space of a week is not acceptable.

"The players have let me down massively. I just can't understand where this performance came from."

Stockport 2 Accrington 0

Goals at either end of the first half from Michael Rose and Anthony Elding earned play-off hopefuls Stockport their fourth straight League win.

After three minutes Elding was felled just outside the box and up stepped Rose to curl home a superb free-kick.

James Harris and Roscoe D'Sane both fluffed decent chances to level for Accrington but County killed the contest in first-half stoppage time when Rose returned the goal favour to Elding.

Rose floated over an in-swinging corner for Elding to nod in his 14th goal of the season.

Wycombe 0 Rochdale 1

A late penalty from full-back Tom Kennedy gave Rochdale a deserved victory.

With the game approaching full-time, Wycombe left-back Craig Woodman brought down Ben Muirhead in the box and Kennedy rifled the spot-kick past keeper Frank Fielding.

New Rochdale signing Rene Howe had wasted the best chance of a dour first half but the game burst into life after the break.

First Dale skipper Gary Jones fired wide and then Howe wasted a golden chance.