Swindon held off a dramatic late comeback from Accrington to win 4-3 at the Wham Stadium and move closer to the League Two play-off places.

Dan Kemp, Jake Young, Saidou Khan and Charlie Austin gave Town a 4-0 lead heading into the final minute before Stanley’s late flurry, with Brad Hills netting a brace after Korede Adedoyin pulled one back.

Swindon went ahead in the 17th minute when Kemp hit a penalty straight down the middle, following a challenge by Tommy Leigh on George McEachran.

It was 2-0 in the 31st minute when Remeao Hutton broke down the right and squared the ball for Young to fire home his seventh goal in six games.

Stanley manager John Coleman was sent off at half-time.

Jack Nolan hit the inside of the post at the start of the second half but Swindon struck next after 60 minutes with a spectacular goal from Khan, rifling home from 25 yards.

Stanley were awarded a penalty in the 68th minute for handball by Liam Kinsella but Leigh’s spot-kick was saved by Murphy Mahoney.

It was 4-0 in the 89th minute when Hutton fed Austin, who stroked the ball home.

However, in the second minute of added time, Adedoyin found the bottom corner for Stanley.

After six minutes of added time, Hills dinked the ball over Mahoney from close range and four minutes later fired home his second of the game in a grandstand finish.

Defender Conor Masterson struck a late winner for Gillingham as they recorded a 1-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon on a night disrupted by floodlight failure.

Play was delayed for 23 minutes midway through the second half at the Priestfield Stadium and looked set to end in stalemate before Masterson’s intervention moved the Gills up to seventh in League Two.

After an hour of tedium in Kent, Connor Mahoney shot over from a tricky angle for Gillingham after being picked out by Scott Malone.

A power cut in the local area then led to the players being taken off the pitch, with Dons striker Ali Al-Hamadi having a great chance after play finally resumed when he slashed wastefully wide.

The action had finally livened up, with Gills substitute George Lapslie heading Maloney’s cross straight at Alex Bass before Al-Hamadi was denied by the inside of the post.

The hosts eventually snatched it in the 85th minute when Jonny Williams’ free-kick was met by Masterson, whose header drifted into the bottom corner.

Sutton recorded a fourth successive League Two draw as they checked high-flying Crewe’s recent good form in an entertaining 1-1 draw.

Crewe had an early chance when Elliott Nevitt sent a shot straight at Sutton goalkeeper Steve Arnold.

And they went ahead after 17 minutes when Courtney Baker-Richardson curled a fine shot beyond Arnold after Sutton had failed to clear their lines.

The lead lasted 11 minutes, Louis John equalising with a close-range finish after Omar Sowunmi and Lee Angol had seen efforts blocked following a corner.

Crewe came close to going back in front just before half-time when Rio Adebisi’s cross fell for Shilow Tracey, but Arnold did well to block his first effort and the follow-up crashed off the bar.  Harry Smith’s low shot was saved by Harvey Davies in the visitors’ goal.

The best second-half opening fell to Sutton, though, as substitute Aiden O’Brien hit a post after a quick break from another replacement Dion Pereira.

Crewe almost grabbed a winner when Conor Thomas shot just wide after Mickey Demetriou had headed back a free-kick.

But despite a late flurry of pressure from the visitors Sutton held firm for a deserved point.

Stockport were left ruing a host of missed chances as Salford held the League Two leaders to a goalless draw.

The Hatters, whose 12-match winning run in League Two was ended by Newport at the weekend, failed to take advantage of their dominance.

A bright start for the hosts culminated in Nick Powell meeting a Macauley Southam-Hales cut-back, only to blast a venomous strike onto the crossbar.

The ex-Manchester United midfielder continued to threaten before the break but his glancing header from close range dropped just wide of the target.

Paddy Madden, who notched a hat-trick against Salford in the EFL Trophy last month, nearly added another to his tally but Alex Cairns made an impressive stop.

A makeshift away side – marred by 11 absentees – fought valiantly, typified by Theo Vassell’s heroic goal-line block to deny former Ammie Fraser Horsfall.

The inspired Cairns followed his defender’s suit, thwarting Kyle Wootton from close range and pawing a fierce Madden strike in quick succession.

Salford ended their three-match losing streak while Stockport remain top.

Morecambe boss Ged Brannan saw his first game in charge end in defeat as Newport came from behind to take the points.

Brannan, who took over from Derek Adams this week, saw the Shrimps take an early lead through Michael Mellon but they were then undone by goals from Will Evans and Bristol City loanee Seb Palmer-Houlden.

Mellon – also on loan, from Burnley – gave Morecambe the lead on 12 minutes with an excellent finish from the edge of the area that squeezed into the bottom right corner of Nick Townsend’s goal.

After a sluggish start, the visitors came into the game.

Will Evans flashed a shot wide but found the target on 29 minutes when the home defence failed to clear a corner and he hammered home the rebound.

The Exiles went ahead on 57 minutes when Morecambe keeper Adam Smith and midfielder Eli King failed to deal with a bouncing ball in the Morecambe box and Palmer-Houlden took advantage of the gift to score from close range.

Mellon forced Townsend into a late save with a shot from 12 yards as the Shrimps searched for a leveller but the visitors held on to take the win.

Wrexham squandered a two-goal lead as Dean Cornelius and Anthony O’Connor replies earned spirited Harrogate a 2-2 draw in Sky Bet League Two.

Visiting midfielders Andy Cannon and Elliot Lee, with his 11th goal of the season, had put the Dragons in the ascendancy but Harrogate, without a home win for more than two months, were good value for a point by the final whistle.

Earlier, home goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell had performed heroics to deny Lee, Cannon and Aaron Hayden before Wrexham forged ahead in the 36th minute when James McLean pulled the ball back from the left byline for Cannon to side-foot inside the far post from 15 yards.

The visitors’ advantage was doubled five minutes later when Harrogate failed to deal with a Ben Tozer long throw from the right and Paul Mullin, lurking at the far post, helped the ball on to Lee, who prodded in from two yards.

Cornelius went on to reduce the deficit on the stroke of half-time when he fired into Arthur Okonkwo’s bottom-right corner from the edge of the box after persistent play by Jack Muldoon but there was still time for Tom O’Connor to rattle a home upright from 30 yards before the break.

Harrogate’s O’Connor then levelled two minutes after the restart when he powered a header past Mark Howard, on for the injured Okonkwo, following George Thomson’s free-kick from the right.

Moments later, home attacker Abraham Odoh fired wide of an inviting net and neither team had a better opportunity to bag maximum points thereafter.

Doncaster returned to winning ways with a 3-1 triumph over Colchester.

The two sides started the night level on points in the lower reaches of League Two but an own goal, a header from Mo Faal and a Joe Ironside penalty saw Rovers to a seventh win from their last nine home matches.

The hosts had the better of the early chances before taking the lead after 33 minutes when a Jack Senior corner rattled back off a post and ricocheted in off Colchester’s Zach Mitchell.

Colchester levelled two minutes before the break when Joe Taylor raced on to a superb through ball from Chay Cooper and fired in.

Doncaster were much the more threatening in the second half and retook the lead after 73 minutes when West Brom loanee Faal planted home a header from a Luke Molyneux cross.

And Ironside made sure of the win from the spot after 87 minutes, smashing his penalty off the underside of the bar after Molyneux was brought down by Will Greenidge.

David Artell’s first game as Grimsby head coach ended in a 1-1 League Two draw with MK Dons.

Rekeil Pyke gave the Mariners a deserved lead before Jack Payne’s second-half equaliser ensured the visitors drew for the third-consecutive game.

Artell was confirmed as Paul Hurst’s replacement the day before the trip to Milton Keynes and his side made the brighter start.

They found the breakthrough when Danny Rose’s low cross was converted by Pyke.

Things nearly got better for Grimsby when Rose’s strike deflected narrowly wide, before goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray saved two attempts by Alex Hunt.

Arthur Gnahoua hit the post in the second half, but the home side equalised just after the hour.

A slip gave Alex Gilbey space to cross and Payne’s first-time shot found the back of the net.

Both sides created and spurned chances late on, with Grimsby’s Callum Ainley miscuing when through on goal before Dons’ Mo Eisa fired wide when well-placed in the final minute of stoppage-time.

Promotion-chasing Mansfield twice had to come from behind at home for a 2-2 draw with struggling Tranmere, who finished with 10 men.

Swindon had ended Stags’ 17-game unbeaten start to the season at the weekend and Tranmere drew first blood on a 13th-minute breakaway after Harvey Saunders sent Charlie Jolley clear to slot coolly past Christy Pym.

Aden Flint should have levelled on the half-hour but sent a close-range header wide from a Davis Keillor-Dunn free-kick.

Rovers were defending superbly and almost caught Mansfield on another breakaway after 32 minutes, this time Pym denying Saunders with a magnificent double save.

And five minutes later Mansfield were level as Keillor-Dunn helped on a low Jordan Bowery cross from the right and Rhys Oates was on hand to net from close range.

Mansfield pressed hard after the break, but Rovers sat firm and after 62 minutes when Keillor-Dunn failed to control, they stung Stags again on the counter as Rob Apter threaded a low 18-yard finish inside the right post.

But Mansfield were level again after 79 minutes as sub Will Swan’s shot from 16 yards deflected past Luke McGee.

In the third added minute Jordan Turnbull was dismissed for a second booking.

Bradford made it back-to-back League Two wins under new boss Graham Alexander with a 3-0 away win at struggling Forest Green.

Goals from Matt Platt, Andy Cook, and Jamie Walker sealed victory before Ash Taylor was given a straight red card for the visitors in second-half stoppage-time.

Bradford led early on through Platt after he glanced home an Ash Taylor header back across the goal following a clever corner routine.

Bantams forward Cook was sent tumbling by Rovers defender Jordan Moore-Taylor in the penalty area soon after and sent goalkeeper James Belshaw the wrong way with the resulting spot-kick after 21 minutes.

Forest Green’s Tyrese Omotoye squandered a golden opportunity after the break after he anticipated a short back pass but he dragged his effort wide of the far post.

Callum Jones hit the crossbar for he hosts before Walker made it three as he slotted home a loose ball following some neat build-up on the Bradford right.

Taylor was given his marching order in stoppage-time for a professional foul as Olly Sully was through on goal but it was the visitors who took home the points.

Notts County boss Luke Williams took the blame as his side slipped to a 4-2 defeat at AFC Wimbledon.

The Magpies clawed their way back to parity having gone two goals down at the Cherry Red Records Stadium only to concede twice late on.

Macaulay Langstaff and Aaron Nemane had brought Notts County level before Jake Reeves and Ali Al-Hamadi both completed their braces as the Dons moved within touching distance of the play-offs.

“Every time Wimbledon counter-attacked us we had problems because we were slow to react and then we were not tough enough,” Williams said.

“And then when we looked like we were about to make a good action, we fluffed our lines.”

“Maybe I should have changed [at 2-2] to make us more defensive so that we could take a point with us, but I probably got that one wrong.

“I probably trusted them too much that they were going to win the game.

“In hindsight, I wish I’d probably changed to a more defensive formation and tried to get a message to the players to stop attacking so much.”

Reeves had put the Dons ahead from the spot just before the half-hour mark before Al-Hamadi rounded Sam Slocombe in the Notts County goal to double the hosts’ lead.

The Magpies were a different side after half-time though as Langstaff finished clinically and with 67 minutes gone, Williams’ side drew level as Nemane was left in space to fire home from a corner.

Reeves’ second goal again came from the spot, blasting the Dons back into the lead in the 86th minute before Al-Hamadi sprinted clear on the break to sew up the three points in injury time.

While Williams was hesitant to make changes, Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson adapted his side’s approach and penalty taker, with both paying dividends.

Jackson said: “I thought it was a great game of football, a great spectacle for the league. Both teams were going at it, trying to win, trying to attack.

“They’re a good side and we changed the way we play in respect of that. I feel like if you get your shape wrong against them then they can really hurt you.

“But we went about it a different way and it worked perfectly in that first half, we scored two and probably should have been double that.

“Reeves hasn’t been our penalty taker, but everyone else keeps missing them!

“I had a chat with him yesterday and obviously he’s the captain, he’s the calm head in the group, he’s the experience in the group and technically he’s good.

“The question might be ‘Why didn’t he take them before?’ but obviously you want your strikers taking penalties and it hasn’t worked out.”

Crawley boss Scott Lindsey admitted his men “probably got away with it” after they managed to scrape a 2-1 home victory over Harrogate in an underwhelming display.

A second-half goal from Klaidi Lolos settled the issue after Jack Muldoon had cancelled out a long-range strike from Crawley skipper Ben Gladwin midway through the first half.

Lindsey was quick to admit that the Reds, who had won only one of their previous seven league games, were far from their best and on another day would not have escaped with three points.

The former Swindon manager said: ”We weren’t at our best. We were loose with the ball and turned it over too much.

“But all credit to the lads for showing a lot of character. Harrogate made a lot of chances and on another day we might have lost.

“Since I’ve been manager, we’ve been great at home and I always fancy us to score, but Harrogate had too many chances and we probably got away with it.”

Gladwin didn’t celebrate his goal when putting the Reds ahead in the 23rd minute with a terrific shot and Lindsey explained: ”Glads was not happy with the general performance and that’s why he didn’t celebrate.

“He was disappointed and I didn’t expect him to celebrate because I know what he’s like.”

Harrogate had won their previous four away league games and manager Simon Weaver was dismayed his men failed to make the most of a string of opportunities.

He said: ”It is disappointing to lose a game when we had so many chances and had a lot of the ball. We had a lot of corners and lots of shots but just couldn’t finish it off. It was very frustrating.”

Weaver admitted he did not expect Crawley to turn the ball over as often as they did and added: ”We watched Crawley a few times this season to see how they’ve been playing and I thought we could cause them a few problems.

“We made plenty of chances and some of our build-up was excellent. But, to be fair, they gave us some help and we didn’t expect them to give us as many turnovers as they did.

“It was a pity we didn’t expose them fully. When we have scored, it has been with a good old-fashioned ball into the box and a header – I just wish we had done that more.”

Forest Green boss David Horseman believes his side’s performance in a 0-0 draw at Walsall is firm evidence they will soon escape the League Two drop zone.

Rovers remained second-bottom, now two points from safety, but had the better of the first half against the Saddlers with Troy Deeney, Harvey Bunker and Kyle McAllister all going close.

And while admitting their position is down to a failure to convert their chances, Horseman is adamant successive relegations are not in the pipeline.

“The boys were absolutely brilliant,” he said. “The first 20 minutes was the best we’ve played by a million miles and we probably should have scored two or three and actually finished the game.

“I want to win, of course, but there was lots for us to be proud of today. Probably just that last pass or cross wasn’t there and that was the only disappointing bit. But we deserved our point.

“We haven’t strung enough results together and we have been getting beat in games like this but today we showed a little bit more steel and determination.

“When we look at our stats, they are top seven in the league but we don’t score enough goals at the moment. I thought there were times some of our football blew them away.

“We don’t believe we are a bottom-two team and we don’t believe that once we start getting players back that we will be anywhere near the bottom two.”

Deeney was back at the club he began his career with but so was ex-Walsall trainee goalkeeper James Belshaw – and it was he who stole the show as he saved brilliantly from Freddie Draper and Danny Johnson.

But Walsall boss Mat Sadler said his side should have had a penalty when Jordan Moore-Taylor handled Ryan Stirk’s volley.

Sadler said: “I think it’s a penalty – I’ve seen it back. The referee has got a really good angle of it as well, he’s right down the barrel of it so I don’t see how he doesn’t give that. It’s got to be a penalty.

“The big moments when there were some big opportunities, we didn’t quite have the quality today. That final ball, that little bit of end product wasn’t there for us. No one could really light the blue touch paper.

“But as the old adage goes, if you can’t win it, don’t get beat and we take a clean sheet and move on. We have to remember the positives even when we are frustrated we’ve not gone on and won it.

“We’re still striving for that consistency of team selection – we’ve had injuries, suspensions, illnesses, we’ve never quite got settled like we would want but we are working towards that.”

Graham Alexander thought Bradford were good value for his first league win in charge after they beat Accrington 1-0.

Tyler Smith’s well-taken goal in the second half – the striker’s third in four games under the new manager – proved enough to end the Yorkshire side’s four-match losing streak.

Alexander, who had lost both of his previous league outings, said: “We’re really pleased. The players have worked exceptionally hard since last week to find a winning formula.

“We did great on Tuesday in the EFL Trophy and we wanted to try and build momentum in the league.

“This was a really good place to start because Accrington are a good team who will be in the play-off picture.

“It was a really hard game, really tight and we’re delighted that we’ve won it.

“We would like to have created more chances and that was our intent. But Accrington are where they are for a reason and defended well.

“They made it difficult for us at times but we did with them as well. I said to the players at half-time that this could be a 50-minute grind but it’s a grind we managed to win.”

Accrington had the best chance of a cagey first half when Harry Lewis tipped away Korede Adedoyin’s snap-shot.

Ash Taylor headed wide early in the second half before Smith struck the decisive blow, lifting his shot over Jon McCracken from Ciaran Kelly’s long pass.

Alexander added: “It was a brilliant finish. I thought Cooky (Andy Cook) was a real handful for them to handle and Tyler picked up the spaces.”

Stanley manager John Coleman was frustrated that his side failed to follow up their previous win over Wrexham.

He said: “We didn’t perform to the heights we did last week. We didn’t show the same spirit and you can’t put your finger on that.

“We defended very well first half and looked comfortable. We got to half-time 0-0 in front of a big crowd and half the job was done.

“But we didn’t come out second half. We gave up possession to them for 20 minutes and a lot of free-kicks came into our box.

“Then the goal we’ve conceded – we’ve conceded ones like that four or five times this season.

“A ball up to the edge of our box, their player jumps into ours, we’re going backwards, they get onto the second ball and lob the keeper. That’s happened a few times this season.

“It’s disappointing because we haven’t learned our lesson.

“We didn’t work their keeper. One header that was comfortable for him to save but we huffed and puffed.

“Bradford have leaked a lot of goals of late and they’ve got a comfortable clean sheet today that they shouldn’t have.”

Phil Parkinson was just as pleased with Paul Mullin’s all-round performance as he was with the striker’s hat-trick in Wrexham’s 6-0 League Two demolition of Morecambe.

Joel Senior’s own-goal and Mullin’s first strike put Wrexham two ahead early on. Jacob Mendy also struck before half-time, while Mullin scored twice after the break and James Jones completed the emphatic rout.

The win sees the Dragons return to the automatic promotion spots and bounce back from defeat at Accrington, with Mullin now on eight goals for the season.

Parkinson said: “He was good, I thought his all-round link play and his runs were really good. It was a really good display, getting a hat-trick.

“Goals are so important and key moments in games to take chances and the fourth goal really does kill the game off. But I’m just as pleased with his all-round performance.

“It’s a great response to losing last week and some fantastic goals and there were other opportunities in the game.

“We knew Morecambe have had some good results recently, they beat Lincoln in the cup and they’re a dangerous counter-attacking team. They’ve got some good quality, but I thought we dealt with that side of it well.

“But equally we knew they’re a team where if we pass the ball with quality, we could punish them and we did that.

“We took our chances and we were clinical, got off to a great start and it’s a good day’s work for us.”

Morecambe caretaker boss Ged Brannan – who has applied to be Derek Adams’ successor – admitted the heavy defeat left him feeling “physically sick” as he did not defend the Shrimps’ showing.

He said: “We had a gameplan, all week trained really well, told them how to manage the game and not to concede early doors, especially away against a team that’s been absolutely flying.

“The gameplan was quieten the crowd and then start playing, stay in the game – and we gave two goals away in six minutes. Game over.

“I’m not going to defend us today, we never tracked runners, we never marked in the box, we never won our headers, never won the first or second contacts.

“We never done anything right defensively. We had a lot of possession and nice one-twos around the pitch, but it’s done nothing for us. Nothing at all.

“I feel physically sick. I’ve applied for the job and that’s not going to help me at all. I feel really sick, but we’ve got to go again. We’ve got a big game on Tuesday so we’ve got to be positive.”