West Midlands Regional League

Premier Division

Smethwick Rangers 0

Wem Town 2

Wem Town picked up a crucial victory on Saturday in their bid to avoid relegation from the West Midlands Premier Division.

Josh Gough’s men grabbed all three points at Smethwick Rangers after a recent turn of poor form, on a pitch that proved to make playing football tough.

The win at the below mid-table West Midlands side was much needed as Wem faced a genuine relegation threat as they moved four points clear of second-from-bottom Pershore Town 88.

However, Dudley Sports – who are third from bottom – remain on Wem’s tail after they beat bottom side Pegasus Juniors 3-0, also on their travels.

Wem’s win was sealed by goals from Chris Peel and Cal Briscoe with a rare clean sheet also recorded.

Gough said: “A great win today winning at Smethwick.

“The pitch was tough for both teams but the heart and desire shown by our boys today was brilliant.

“We did the basics superbly and got to use this as a stepping stone now.”

Sports still have a game-in-hand over the Bowensfield men and a victory for them would see Wem fall into the bottom three.

But some good news for Wem is that they closed the gap on Shawbury United to four points after they were thrashed 6-2 at home to Bilston Town Community.

Wem will aim for back-to-back wins when they host Wellington at Bowensfield for a 3pm kick-off.

Other results on Saturday saw Dudley Town and Bewdley Town play out a 1-1 draw as Wednesfield ran out 3-1 winners at home to Wellington.

Wolverhampton Casuals kept their thin title hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Cradley Town.

Tividale and Haughmond both remain first and second respectively, but neither side played while Casuals sit in third, one point behind having played two more games than Haughmond.

North West Counties Football League

First Division Quarter-Finals

Carlisle City P

Ellesmere Rangers P

Ellesmere Rangers’ clash with Carlisle City fell foul of the weather as they hoped to take their eyes off their currently league plight to reach a semi-final in their first year in the North West Counties League.

They will instead try again on Saturday and will make the trip to the Don Marks Carpets Stadium to try and reach the last four of the divisional cup.

The Beech Grove Men were also in action last night as they hosted Cheadle Heath Nomads at home, hoping for a victory against the mid-table side that would have closed the gap on Cammell Laird in third from bottom.

After that, Rangers will have a north Shropshire derby as eighth-placed St Martins come to Beech Grove for a 3pm start, with the Park Hall club looking to do their neighbours no favours, as they try to get back on track with their own season.

Rangers will finish the month with a third straight league game at home when they host Sandbach United, in what could be a kickstart for their season.

They are currently nine points adrift of Lairds, who won 1-0 on Saturday, but are five points ahead of Stone Dominoes in bottom.

In Division One South, St Martins were the big winners of the day as they ran in nine goals against Dominoes who were only 2-1 down at the break.