LATE GOALS EARN TOWN THREE MORE POINTS

BOTTOM markers Irchester belied their lowly position and made Town work hard for the points.

Fielding a side with some new faces, the visitors provided stern opposition and came very close to denying Sleaford all three points.

But Town eventually broke through the defiant Irchester defence twice in the last 10 minutes to clinch the win. With leaders Whitworths drawing, it means Town are now just three points adrift of their title rivals.

A draw for third placed AFC Kempston was also good news for second placed Town. It gives Sleaford an 11 point advantage over Kempston, who have just two games in hand.

But for long spells on Saturday, Town must have thought victory would elude them. Both defences played well, with Ward and Sidney again forming a formidable partnership at the centre of the Sleaford back line.

Although Irchester did pose the occasional threat, Scott in the Town goal dealt efficiently with anything that came his way.

At the other end, the home side were continually frustrated as they failed to find a way through the stubborn Irchester rearguard.

It remained goal-less at half-time and it was not long into the second period before manager Brian Rowland brought on subs Machin and Lunn to replace Sutton and Holderness, then minutes later Reece came on for Carl Sedlan and pushed up front alongside Shaw.

After several near misses, Sleaford must have thought it was not going to be there day, especially when Shaw struck the post. But nine minutes from time the striker broke the deadlock, a cross from Lunn found ace poacher Shaw unmarked at the near post and he made no mistake to make it 1-0.

After such a long wait for the opener, the home crowd had only to wait another three minutes for goal number two. Again Lunn provided the cross and this time it was Jones on hand to head home and Town had another valuable three points in the bag.

Sleaford Town: Scott; Jones, Ward, Sidney, Statham; Sutton, J Sedlan, Stones, C Sedlan, Holderness; Shaw. Subs: Machin, Reece, Harrison, Lunn.