Well, on what was meant to be matchday 25 for Yeovil, there were plenty of goals to make up for the absence of our fixture against Taunton. Let’s look at what took place across the New Year weekend!
We start with the two fixtures that took place on Saturday, with Aveley coming away as 2-1 winners against bottom placed Dover Athletic, a 90th minute winner from Emmanuel Ogunrinde separating the two sides; meanwhile, Dartford dropped two points at home to Welling United with a 90th minute own goal from Moussa Diarra handing the visitors a much needed point. There was meant to be a third fixture on Saturday, but Truro City v Torquay United was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
Moving onto the New Years Day fixtures, and we head to Hampshire, where Farnborough fell to a 4-2 defeat at home to Havant & Waterlooville in a barnstormer. Another cracker came down on the south coast at our noisy neighbours, as W*ymouth rescued a point at home to Weston-super-mare in a 3-3 thriller, two former Glovers finding themselves on the scoresheet in Brandon Goodship (W*Y) and Reuben Reid (WSM).
Eastbourne Borough’s depressing Christmas period finally came to an end, as did their manager’s tenure – Mark Beard was sacked shortly after their 4-0 home defeat to Worthing, who climbed to 3rd following their second win in a row by more than 3 goals. North of London, St Albans City completed a dramatic comeback away to Hemel Hempstead, with ex-Glover Shaun Jeffers finding himself on the scoresheet in a 3-2 win, while Chelmsford City made it two 3-0 wins over Braintree Town, despite finding themselves down to 10 men in the 33rd minute!
Our final three fixtures involve playoff contenders – Hampton & Richmond continued their unbeaten run with a dramatic 2-1 win at home to Slough Town, another former Glover in Ben Seymour snatching the 90th minute winner, allowing the hosts to close the gap at the top to *just* 7 points. Maidstone posted their first win in 4 league games with a 2-0 win at home to Tonbridge Angels, while Bath City and Chippenham Town played out a 0-0 draw at Twerton Park.
National League South results – in full
Aveley 2-1 Dover Athletic
Dartford 1-1 Welling United
Truro City P-P Torquay United
Hampton & Richmond Borough 2-1 Slough Town
Bath City 0-0 Chippenham Town
Chelmsford City 3-0 Braintree Town
Eastbourne Borough 0-4 Worthing
Farnborough 2-4 Havant & Waterlooville
Hemel Hempstead Town 2-3 St Albans City
Maidstone United 2-0 Tonbridge Angels
W*ymouth 3-3 Weston-super-mare
National League tables!
First tables of 2024 ?#TheVanarama | @Vanarama pic.twitter.com/ZKjLEtdBvu
— The National League (@TheVanaramaNL) January 1, 2024