It’s been a while since we touched upon the top echelons of the Notts non-league scene with the highest ranked club outside the big three (Forest, Stags, County) being Worksop Town who are currently fourth in the Northern Premier League which is step three on the non league pyramid.

Worksop beat Hebburn Town 3-2 on Saturday with a couple of goals from Aleks Starcenko to win their third successive game in a row and keep their playoff dream alive, Basford United at the other end of the table are third bottom but also won at the weekend as they beat local rivals Matlock Town 2-1, Theo Hudson and Rev James on the scoresheet for the Ambers who are five points adrift of safety.

In the East Division of the Northern Premier League (step 4) both Carlton Town and Sherwood Colliery represent the county and both won last night on the road, Sherwood beating Bishop Auckland 3-2 with a couple from Terry Atem and a late winner from Ewan Robson, whilst Carlton beat Sheffield a little closer to home 2-1.

The Millers coming from a goal behind at half time with a late winner themselves, Nathan Watson levelling a Luke Aldrich strike on 66 before Niall Davie popped up with a 90th minute winner, Carlton are now tenth in the table on 44 points whilst Sherwood on 29 points are fourth bottom and still fighting for survival with destiny in their own hands.

In the big match up last night it was Newark & Sherwood United who went through after beating Radford in the semi final of the Notts Senior Cup to set up a tie against either Hucknall Town or Basford United in the final.

In a 3-1 win, Kieran Cummings opened the score at Selhurst Street for the away side on just three minutes but Radford levelled through Kwasi Ofushine midway through the first half.

Radford (step 6) from a division lower than Newark (step 5) both of the United Counties were good value and might have gone in at the break level, but for Kieran Cummings getting his second of the game on the stroke of half time, a low shot to give the visitors the edge.

Cummings then completed his hat-trick on 58 to put the game all but to bed, he volleyed home after good work by Jarvis and despite a late rally from Radford, it was visiting Manager Romaine Graham pleased after the match, stating “they come at us but I knew once we settled our quality would show, I tweaked it a bit ten minutes into the second half which gave us more stability and allowed us to take full control of the game”.

Newark & Sherwood will now play the winners of Hucknall v Basford which will be played on Wednesday 5 March.

*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).

*Main image @stevemack2017 action between Radford and Newark & Sherwood.