Crewe boss Lee Bell was delighted to see his side end Mansfield’s unbeaten home record and strengthen their own promotion claims.Joe White’s finish just over a minute into the game proved enough for Bell to make a winning return to his former club and prevent them going top of League Two.And a second win of the week moved Alex to within five points of the automatic promotion places.&ld

Birmingham’s new manager will inherit a squad full of character interim manager Steve Spooner insisted after the club’s 1-1 draw with Hull in the FA Cup third round.Birmingham took the lead early in the match at the MKM Stadium as Lukas Jutkiewicz’s glancing effort found the bottom corner of the net and the Blues could have doubled their advantage moments later as Siriki Dembele

Jon Dahl Tomasson lauded “incredible” Sammie Szmodics after his first career hat-trick helped Blackburn defeat Cambridge 5-2 in the FA Cup third round.United threatened to shock their Sky Bet Championship hosts and twice went ahead, first through Jack Lankester’s curling finish and then Sullay Kaikai’s emphatic volley. In between those goals, Szmodics swept home and he brou

Scott Lindsey praised Crawley’s character after they scored twice in stoppage time to clinch a dramatic 4-2 win at Bradford.The visitors had been trailing 2-1 before Adam Campbell’s 85th-minute equaliser.They then went on to complete a stunning comeback with Danilo Orsi and Klaidi Lolos scoring in the 10 added minutes.Manager Lindsey said: “It was a big victory. We showed unbelie

Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi admits he will demand more from Joao Pedro even though only Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have scored more this season.The Brazilian’s late double in a 4-2 victory at Stoke avoided a potential FA Cup upset and took his personal tally to 15 in his maiden campaign for the Seagulls.It equalled Glenn Murray’s 15-goal haul from the 2018-19 season and

Eastleigh manager Richard Hill claimed his side used the sense of injustice after George Langston’s first-half red card to inspire them to fight back from a goal down to earn a replay with a 1-1 draw at Newport.Centre-back Langston was sent off for an elbow on County midfielder Harry Charsley seven minutes before the break, leaving the National League side with an uphill task.And League Two

Burton caretaker manager Gary Mills was satisfied with a 1-1 draw at home to Wycombe despite leading in the second half.A low-key encounter came to life in the second half when striker Bez Lubala thumped home his sixth goal of the campaign but Mills had to concede that Sam Vokes’ clinical volley to equalise was just as good.“I thought it was a fair result” Mills said. “We h

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell hailed a superb team performance as the Grecians climbed out of the League One relegation zone with a deserved 2-1 win over Carlisle at St James Park.Second-half goals from Reece Cole and Sonny Cox gave Exeter a 2-0 lead after they had been in almost complete control.Dan Butterworth then pulled one back for Carlisle in the 86th minute, which led to a nervy finale, but

Falkirk moved eight points clear at the top of Scottish League One as they edged out Queen of the South 1-0 for a fifth straight victory.Aidan Nesbitt netted a minute into the second half as the leaders extended their unbeaten run to a club-record 24 games.That stretched their advantage at the top as second-placed Hamilton saw their fixture away to Stirling postponed due to a frozen pitch.Third-pl

Hartlepool ended a run of six Vanarama National League games without a win as they beat fellow strugglers Oxford City 2-1 at the Suit Direct Stadium.The hosts, who appointed Lennie Lawrence as caretaker manager on Wednesday following the sacking of John Askey last month, held the upper hand for most of the match.Joe Grey cracked an early effort against the bar and Anthony Mancini brought a good sa