Conference Round-up: April 2

The Bees needed to win to clinch the Conference title but the runaway leaders will be celebrating anyway on Tuesday night if Carlisle fail to win at Hereford. Northwich moved back out of the relegation zone thanks to two Paul Brayson goals in front of one of their best gates of the season - 1,552.

Although the loss was a blow to the North Londoners, boss Paul Fairclough wasn't too downhearted afterwards.

"I'm at that stage in my life where it takes minutes to get over a defeat, not days or even hours. The opportunity was set up for us to win the championship. It was about two teams who had to apply themselves on the worst pitch we have played on all season. That is not an excuse. It was the same for both teams and Northwich applied themselves better," he said.

Barnet could become champions in front of their own fans at home to Halifax next Saturday - but only if the Cumbrians get at least a point at Hereford first. Paul Simpson's men marched on to their sixth successive league win - equalling the club record in the process - when they won 2-1 at crisis club Farnborough to increase the chances that the Cherrywood Road outfit will be playing in the Conference South next season. Town had Scott Canham and Mark Rooney installed as emergency coaches after the departure of Neil Sillett and his assistants on Thursday.

United went ahead through a Dave Beharall goal and Peter Murphy doubled the lead midway through the second half. A late Taggart penalty gave them something to worry about in the closing minutes, but Simpson was happy enough to keep his side firmly on course for the play-offs.

"I likened this game to the England-Azerbaijan match," he said. "Everybody expects the result, asking how many goals they think we will score. But no games are as straightforward as that and we had to work very hard."

Halifax kept the pressure on in 3rd place and sent Leigh RMI to the brink of relegation with a crushing 5-1 win at The Shay.

The second half saw all the damage done after the Railway Mechanics had gone in at the break with a shock lead. Nick Allen stunned 'fax with a goal in the 44th minute, but during the second period the Shaymen were dominant. Ryan Sugden levelled after 49 minutes and then Halifax went nap with two goals in 60 seconds through Craig Midgley and Lewis Killeen. Gordon Chin made it 4-1 with 3 minutes remaining before the final nail was hammered in by skipper Denny Ingram.

Hereford scored a significant win at Stevenage to move back into the play off places and record their fourth successive win. Adam Stansfield's strike after 55 minutes meant the Borough swapped places with the Bulls who are now showing the form they produced last season when they were pipped for the title by Chester City.

Woking's form has nosedived and they continued to suffer as they went down 4-2 at home to Dagenham and Redbridge. The result leaves the Cards floundering in 10th place after having looked play off certainties a couple of weeks ago. Glenn Southam and Chris Moore each grabbed a brace at Kingfield to keep the Daggers receding play off chances alive. Jefferson Louis and Justin Richards replied for Glenn Cockerill's team.

Morecambe are still in with a strong chance of reaching the post-season action after coming from behind to beat Scarborough 2-1. The Seadogs went in front when Neil Redfearn converted a 36th minute penalty but it was the Shrimps' second half, with Danny Carlton levelling matters and top scorer Michael Twiss claiming his 21st goal of the campaign two minutes later.

Exeter's hopes of getting into the play-offs suffered a damaging blow in injury time at struggling Canvey Island. The Essex side scored first through Junior McDougald in the third minute, but Steve Flack brought things level on 66 and a Dominic Sterling own goal with 9 minutes left put the Grecians in front. However four minutes into stoppage time the Island grabbed a point when ex-Orient man Dave McGhee struck.

Forest Green earned a point against Tamworth but dropped back into the relegation places and will be disappointed not to have collected all the points after the visitors had player-coach Mark Cooper ordered off in the opening stages. Despite being a man down, the Lambs were first on to the scoresheet with a Bob Taylor goal on 29 minutes. The Rovers eventually got level with a Charlie Griffin penalty in the final minute but a point may not be enough to keep them in the Conference.