Accrington secured a fourth consecutive League Two win after holding off an AFC Wimbledon comeback to claim a 4-2 victory.

Joe Pritchard’s brace either side of Tommy Leigh’s effort gave Stanley a 3-0 lead and, despite two goals from Dons substitute Omar Bugiel, Brad Hills added a fourth late on.

Stanley opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Dons keeper Alex Bass’ fumble allowed captain Pritchard to bundle the ball into the net.

The visitors deservedly doubled their lead five minutes later when Leigh let go of a stunning 25-yarder that nestled in the top right corner.

Dons boss Johnnie Jackson made a triple switch at half-time but within 24 seconds of the restart the hosts were 3-0 down, Bass parrying straight into the path of Pritchard to tap home.

Jackson’s changes took effect after 50 minutes when Bugiel swept home with his left foot and the substitute looked to have set up a grandstand finish when he forced home a second from James Tilley’s corner.

But the hosts’ comeback was quashed in the 83rd minute when Norwich loanee Hills headed home Pritchard’s free-kick.

Matt Smith scored a hat-trick as ruthless Salford returned to winning ways with a 3-0 triumph at Doncaster.

The hosts had the better of the attacking play but Neil Wood’s side, and Smith in particular, were clinical with the few clear-cut opportunities they had to secure a first victory in four matches.

It took just two minutes for Salford to open the scoring when Smith sent a header into the ground and in off the crossbar.

Doncaster – looking for a fifth consecutive home win – pushed for an equaliser and Harrison Biggins’ audacious chip was kept out by the fingertips of Alex Cairns.

Smith doubled the visitors’ lead in the 26th minute with a trademark header as he powered home from an Ethan Ingram cross.

Joe Ironside looked to have pulled a goal back for Rovers in the second half but his header was ruled out for offside, while Zain Westbrooke and Luke Molyneux both hit the bar.

Smith completed his hat-trick in the 77th minute as he pounced to slot in after substitute Kelly M’Nai was denied by Louis Jones.

Gillingham ended a barren run on the road, winning their first away game in five 1-0 against Swindon.

The visitors took the lead midway through the first half as Connor Mahoney came inside from the right, drilled the ball low and a deflection wrong-footed the goalkeeper.

Swindon were almost level moments later when Dan Kemp clipped the ball into Jake Young. His volley was powerful but spectacularly saved down low by Jake Turner.

A Swindon corner was fizzed towards the near post, where Charlie Austin had got away from his marker and got to the ball, but it went narrowly wide of the far post.

Macauley Bonne was through one-on-one with Murphy Mahoney, but as he tried to send the ball over the goalkeeper, he got an arm up to block the ball and Swindon could clear.

Gillingham could have put it beyond doubt when they won a 74th-minute penalty after a foul from Harrison Minturn, but Cheye Alexander stepped up and side-footed it well wide.

Barrow returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Forest Green.

First-half goals from Sam Foley and Dom Telford secured a fifth League Two triumph this season and saw them end a run of four league games without a win.

Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman produced a string of fine saves to preserve the clean sheet for the visitors.

They led after just four minutes through Foley’s deflected strike from 25 yards following a well-worked short corner routine.

Telford doubled Barrow’s lead when he controlled Elliot Newby’s goalward effort and hammered home into the far corner from inside the penalty area on 18 minutes.

Forest Green forward Troy Deeney was denied at point-blank range by Farman having been played through one-on-one inside the penalty area.

Foley almost gave Barrow a third when Telford slid the midfielder in down their left but his strike cannoned back off the crossbar.

Farman thwarted Deeney from six yards before Forest Green striker Callum Morton’s goalbound effort was cleared off the line.

Leaders Stockport extended their winning run to nine league games as Kyle Wootton’s second-half header and a late strike from Isaac Olaofe secured a 2-0 win at rivals Crewe.

There was little to separate County and their Cheshire rivals in an opening half where meticulous defending from both sides ensured goalmouth excitement was in short supply.

It took until the 42nd minute before either keeper saw action with Crewe’s Harvey Davies making a routine save after Olaofe dug out a shot with little venom behind it from the edge of the D.

But the game burst into life after the restart as Davies reacted smartly to block off Olaofe’s route to goal after the frontman burst clear inside the six-yard box. Odin Bailey then fired an effort wide as Dave Challinor’s side began to turn the screw on their hosts.

Their dominance paid off in the 66th minute when substitute Wootton thundered a far-post header into the bottom corner after Bailey whipped the ball across the six-yard box from a short corner.

Crewe responded and substitute Elliott Nevitt thumped a header wide at the near post.

Olaofe wasted the chance to double Stockport’s lead after Ryan Croasdale slid Wootton clear on the right to pick out his striking colleague, who lifted the ball over from close range.

But the striker sealed the contest in the 89th minute when Wootton robbed Mickey Demetriou and played in Olaofe, who shot into the bottom corner.

Substitute Elliot Lee scored a late winner for Wrexham to snatch a 2-1 victory against League Two’s bottom side Sutton.

Paul Mullin’s fantastic early finish put the Dragons ahead at the Racecourse and Aiden O’Brien equalised after the break, but Lee struck in the dying moments to ensure Wrexham crept back into the top three.

Mullin headed James McClean’s corner over the crossbar after 10 minutes, but made no mistake with a curling finish on the turn from outside the box leaving goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis little chance.

Sutton went close when O’Brien fired inches off target as half-time approached.

The Dragons nearly grabbed a second before the break through Ryan Barnett’s fierce effort and Ollie Palmer’s header, but Bouzanis stopped both.

The visitors got back on level terms just before the hour when Harry Smith crossed low for O’Brien to slot home and looked to have shared the spoils as full-time neared.

But Lee blasted home from the edge of the box to net what proved to be the winner with two minutes left.

Danilo Orsi’s last-gasp header meant Crawley avoided a fourth defeat in a row as the Red Devils drew 1-1 with Walsall.

The Saddlers had opened the scoring in the 89th minute through Danny Johnson, who was on hand to tap in after Brandon Comley’s effort hit a post.

After a drab first half, Walsall launched a second-half onslaught but were met by an inspired Corey Addai in the Crawley goal.

The 26-year-old had first kept out Isaac Hutchinson’s header, before sprawling to block Donervon Daniels’ piledriver.

Johnson himself had also been thwarted by the in-form Addai minutes earlier.

Daniels’ pass set Ross Tierney on his way and his low cross was met by Johnson, but Addai was there once again to keep the Saddlers at bay.

Johnson popped up to prod home his first goal since August after Comley saw his effort rebound off the goal frame.

But Crawley refused to be beaten, as Orsi nodded in his fifth of the season four minutes into stoppage time to salvage a point.

Colchester won their first game since sacking Ben Garner, earning a 3-2 victory over Grimsby at Blundell Park.

Goals from Joe Taylor, Zach Mitchell and Arthur Read earned Colchester all three points after four straight League Two defeats.

Owen Goodman’s own goal and Donovan Wilson’s effort got Grimsby on the scoresheet.

Grimsby were gift-wrapped their opener after seven minutes when Will Greenidge hacked back towards his own goalkeeper and Goodman could do nothing but help that wayward pass into the net.

Read teed up Taylor for the equaliser three minutes later as the latter finished low and powerfully into the corner, while Colchester then went in front 10 minutes before half-time as Mitchell nodded in from an out-swinging Read corner.

Grimsby improved after the interval and Wilson made it 2-2 with a neat left-footed strike with 52 minutes on the clock.

Goodman kept Colchester in the match with two stunning saves and that proved to be telling with Read going on to grab a 64th-minute winner.

Majestic Mansfield racked up a 19th game unbeaten in all competitions following a thumping 4-1 victory at Harrogate.

Lucas Akins scored twice and Louis Reed and George Maris also netted for the visitors, with Levi Sutton’s reply proving mere consolation for the hosts.

The ruthless Stags dominated the first half, with on-loan Leicester centre-back Reed scoring his first EFL goal in the eighth minute when he drove in from 15 yards after Aden Flint rose highest to meet Maris’ corner.

Akins then made the points safe before the break by netting twice in quick succession.

The 34-year-old striker fired home from just outside the penalty area in the 36th minute after home goalkeeper Mark Oxley had denied Davis Keillor-Dunn and Ollie Clarke had thumped a follow-up attempt against an upright.

Akins then stretched out a leg to divert Keillor-Dunn’s firm cross into the net from close range two minutes later.

Mansfield made it 4-0 in the 73rd minute when Maris beat an exposed Oxley from eight yards after being teed up by the menacing Keillor-Dunn.

The hosts’ late riposte saw Sutton’s deflected edge-of-the-box effort strike the underside of the crossbar and bounce over the line.

Macaulay Langstaff hit double figures for the season as Notts County maintained their impressive home form by comfortably beating Newport 3-0 at Meadow Lane.

First-half goals from Dan Crowley and Langstaff saw the hosts in front at the break, before the County number nine added his second to secure the win.

The hosts took the lead having threatened in the early stages, Jodi Jones the centre of Notts’ good work – this time slipping in Crowley who produced a calm finish.

And the Malta international was at it again just before the break, standing up a cross that was gobbled up at the second attempt by Langstaff to notch 10 for the campaign.

Langstaff almost added a second seven minutes into the second half, seeing his effort crash off the crossbar, but he got another moments later – Jones’ sweeping delivery tucked home inside the area.

Will Evans missed to glorious opportunities for the visitors, producing similar finishes inside the area that were unable to trouble Sam Slocombe.

Michael Flynn was pleased with Swindon’s performance against Salford but viewed it as two points dropped.

Salford’s Ethan Ingram and Swindon’s Remeao Hutton were on target in the first 11 minutes.

Charlie Austin’s late penalty looked to be the winner, but substitute Liam Humbles had other ideas as he rescued a point deep into stoppage time.

The Robins have now dropped eight points from losing positions so far this season from the 80th minute onwards.

Flynn said: “It’s two points thrown away. Apart from the first 10 minutes of the game we’ve absolutely dominated, I thought we were excellent.

“We should have scored more and some poor decision-making towards the end has cost us the points.

“We’ve got to stop giving these points away and letting teams off the hook because we have come here and been really dominant. I’m gutted for the players but I’m also annoyed because they’ve got to learn to stop throwing points away.

“It’s happening too much now. Two at Wrexham, Morecambe, Crewe at home and here. It’s very frustrating because we are an unbelievable team, we do things right and that’s a tough one to take.

“We’ve just thrown away what would have been a very good away win at Salford. I love winning football matches but I hate throwing points away.

“But as long as we keep playing the way we’re playing, we’ll keep being positive.”

Salford have lost just one of their last five league matches.

It would have been two were it not for a late equaliser from Humbles.

Ammies head coach Neil Wood appreciated it was a tough game, but was pleased with how Salford came back after going 2-1 behind and down to 10 men after 86 minutes when Curtis Tilt was shown a red card.

Wood said: “The positive is we’ve managed to turn a defeat into a draw.

“I think we’ve seen it quite a lot. Even when results have been going against us when we’ve been losing by one goal we’ve always been on top of teams towards the end.

“Down to 10 men we did really well and started to get on top of the game. I’m really pleased with the last 10-15 minutes, I thought we were really good.

“We’ll always fight until the end. It’s part of what is required to play for this club and to play for me.

“We were 2-1 down to a penalty but great character from the lads. Good determination, good desire, but just the way we got on the ball and played, for me, the way we should be playing in the last 10-15 minutes, that’s what’s more important.”

Barrow boss Pete Wild felt it was a case of two good sides cancelling each other out in his side’s 0-0 draw at home to AFC Wimbledon.

Far from a classic, the game had precious few chances at either end, although Wimbledon almost snatched all three points with a last-gasp breakaway chance for Jake Reeves.

But, after his keeper Paul Farman denied Reeves to preserve a point, Wild was quick to sing the 33-year-old’s praises.

“We’ve limited Wimbledon to not a lot of chances,” said Wild. “There was one in the second half on the counter and one in the final minute of the game, where your heart’s in your mouth.

“You need your goalkeeper every single week and we certainly needed ours today in that last minute. He pulled us out of the mire there, he does every week, he’s a fantastic keeper and deserves all the plaudits he gets.”

The result left Barrow 15th in League Two on 18 points, four points behind eighth-placed Wimbledon with a game in hand.

Wild added: “I think both teams have just cancelled each other out today, you’ve got to give Wimbledon massive credit for the way they’ve set up and made it tough for us.

“I said to the players that shows the respect that other teams are giving them now, they came and set up like that and I think we’ll see that a bit more in the coming weeks.

“With the ball we played some really good stuff, I asked them at half-time to move the ball quicker and create some overloads on the outside and we did that better in the second half but they defended their box excellently and come away with a point, so I’m sure they’re pleased.

“We’ve just got to keep knocking the door down and keep working on that final third and good things will come. It wasn’t to be today, it’s a tale of two good sides who’ve cancelled each other out.”

Dons boss Johnnie Jackson was left rueing Farman’s last-ditch rescue act, but admitted it would perhaps have been harsh on their hosts.

Instead, he was happy with a point and clean sheet from their longest away trip of the season.

“We almost won it with a really good chance at the end, on another day we go and score that goal and nick it,” said Jackson.

“It would have been nicking it too, it was a really tight, close game and we had to defend well at times.

“I thought we were really strong and resolute in the way we defended our box, and that gives you those moments where you can go and counter and create those moments at the other end and that was probably the best of the lot at the end.

“It was a difficult chance for Jake, I thought the pitch was really tough and made playing tricky, I could see it was bobbling about, and that was the nature of the day, it was going to be won or lost on those little moments because it was a tough, closely-fought game in difficult conditions.

“It’s another clean sheet though, they had most of their chances from set-plays. I didn’t feel like they played through us or got in behind us and got one-on-one, it was just those set-piece moments that we had to defend and I have to say we did it brilliantly.

“That’s my biggest takeaway, how resolute we were with our defending.”

Mike Williamson saw plenty to give him a lift despite losing his opening match as MK Dons head coach to promotion-chasing Accrington 1-0.

Shaun Whalley struck in the 31st minute, making space for himself in the area and firing into the roof of the net for the winning goal which moved Stanley into the play-off places.

It made it three successive League Two wins for the Reds while it is now nine games without a win for the Dons, who appointed former Gateshead boss Williamson four days ago after sacking Graham Alexander.

Top scorer Mo Eisa had three good chances while Max Dean fired narrowly wide in the second half for the visitors but goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray was also superb in stopping Whalley getting a second.

MK Dons dropped to 18th place after being top at the end of August.

“I saw a lot of positives, a lot of character and a lot of individual strengths even though the result is difficult to take,” said Williamson.

“We have only had two training sessions so minimal time to get our points across and there are things to iron out but we have a group of lads in there who want to win.

“You can sense the frustration with the way it’s gone recently, we missed two or three chances early on and that increases the frustration but for us it’s getting them to understand the process.

“The group in there are doing a lot of talking after the game, there are a lot of strong characters and they will bring the disappointed lads through.

“I am happy to be here and there is a lot of encouragement for me and the boys.”

Stanley are now seventh in the table on 23 points, three away from the automatic promotion places.

Manager John Coleman said: “I am delighted with the win. We started off shakily and then got to grips with the game.

“It was probably our best performance of the season in terms of playing consistently the way we want to play.

“It has been a nightmare week, we have a plan to play against a new manager and had to do analysis on two teams – MK Dons and Gateshead – which wasn’t ideal and assistant manager Jimmy Bell’s laptop broke!

“I think Mike will get it right, he plays the style of football they want and you could see if in flashes, and they will only get better.

“But we stuck to our game plan brilliantly and we made plenty of chances and that’s back-to-back clean sheets.

“You can’t fault any of our players but I am not getting carried away. You can easily go on a bad run as a good run.

“But once you are on a good run, it gets easier. We found that last time when we won this league. Saying that, every team who is on a good run will feel that they have a big chance to have a say in this league.”

Stockport manager Dave Challinor hailed his side’s eight-game winning run as “an amazing achievement” after they fought hard for a 3-2 win over Grimsby in Sky Bet League Two.

Two goals inside the first 10 minutes from Louie Barry and Tanto Olaofe put them in control.

Olaofe missed a chance to make it three from the penalty spot and Grimsby grabbed a goal just before the break through Donovan Wilson.

The visitors equalised from Gavan Holohan’s spot-kick in the second period but another goal from Barry clinched three points for the Hatters.

“I’m always going to be critical where I need to be. I can’t ask for a better start, but the game should have been over at half-time,” said Challinor.

“I spoke about this last week, how missing a big chance is a mood killer, and that’s exactly what the second penalty was.

“That last 10 minutes, the decision for Tanto to take it and conceding, I was raging at half-time.

“The game should have been won, then it would have allowed us to do different things in the second half.

“In terms of positives, we made the changes and altered the system because we couldn’t deal with their runners and it paid off. The win is an amazing acheivement.

“The winning run is great, it puts us in a really good place going into Tuesday’s game.

“I trust the players have got to be able to play 55 games a season, they’re athletes and sometimes you can expect too little of them almost.

“We want to use the squad but not in a way that will harm momentum.”

Grimsby manager Paul Hurst was frustrated with some of the decisions from officials during the game but commended his team for how they got back into it.

“From our point of view, there was a bit extra there, a lot of character there, we had them on the ropes, especially in periods of that second half.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at all of the decisions in detail, but looking at some of the footage I thought some of those decisions were really poor today.

“I felt the home crowd influenced the decision for the first penalty, they were both at it pulling each other.

“The second goal was poor from our point of view in terms of positioning and then you feel like you’re going to be really up against it.

“I felt a lot of things went against us rather than for us, but at 2-0 down against the league leaders, who were flying so early in the game, I think you’ve got to give credit to our players for getting back into it.

“I don’t think we’ve got what we deserved today against what is obviously a top team.”

Crewe boss Lee Bell warned his side not to let their standards drop as he celebrated his 50th game in charge with a 4-2 victory at Crawley.

The visitors twice came from behind, drawing level for a second time when Crawley’s stand-in skipper Dion Conroy put through his own goal 11 minutes after the break.

Late goals from Courtney Baker-Richardson and substitute Elliot Nevitt took Crewe up to third and they remain the top scorers in the football league.

Bell was delighted with the way his side responded after describing Crawley’s first-half goals from Klaidi Lolos, which was cancelled out by Shilow Tracey, and Ronan Darcy as gifts.

He said: “We started well but gifted them two goals. But then we got our just rewards and tap-ins are the best goals for forwards.

“We are getting rewards because we’ve got good players and quality ones ready to bring on.

“I’m conscious of the goal output we have, but it’s credit to the players.

“We’re not getting carried away. We mustn’t drop our standards and this will help us achieve what we want to achieve.”

Crawley’s third successive league defeat dropped them down to 12th and manager Scott Lindsey criticised his side for “not being brave enough to step forward and win the game”.

He said: “I felt we were ponderous and too slow in our actions. We didn’t threaten the goal anywhere near enough.

“Ultimately that cost us because they score and get back in the game through us not working hard defensively.”

Lindsey’s disappointment was compounded by the fact he thought his side were in charge at half-time.

He added: “Certain things happened for the second goal I’m disappointed about. We were poor in both boxes.

“In general, the way we played and passed was very good and we were calm in possession, but when in the final third we didn’t make the keeper work hard enough for me.

“And defensively we were woeful at times.”