NCEL: Maltby Main 2 Armthorpe Welfare 1

Victory saw the Miners pull 11 points clear of the bottom three.

But for Welfare it left them deep in the relegation mire, second from bottom and four points adrift of safety.

Armthorpe failed to really test the home goalkeeper in the first half and went behind eight minutes before the break.

The Miners played a ball through and with the visitors looking for an offside flag that never came, recent new signing Lewis Benrose side-footed into the net for his first goal for the club.

Maltby doubled the lead on on 56 minutes. A break down the left saw a ball played into the area from the by-line which went all the way across goal to the far post where Benrose was left with an easy tap-in.

Armthorpe were back in the game ten minutes later. James Handley got away down the right before playing the ball low into the middle where Tom McLaughlin, with his back to goal, spun to score with a low shot.

With the game in the balance, Armthorpe thought they should have had a penalty with 12 minutes remaining. McLaughlin got to a through pass just before the keeper who then clattered into the Armthorpe man but shouts for a penalty were waved away.

Armthorpe have now taken just one point from the last five games.

Maltby, meanwhile, celebrated a second win in the space of four days following their 1-0 home victory over Athersley Recreation.

The winning goal came after just three minutes when Steve Hopewell’s persistence forced an error from the visitors’ defence, leaving Hopewell in on goal to calmly tuck past the keeper.

Armthorpe face a huge game at home to relegation rivals Brigg Town on Saturday in a proverbial six-pointer. The visitors, who were relegated from the Evo-Stik League at the end of last season, are one place and two points above Welfare having played two games more.

Maltby go to eighth-placed Albion Sports.