Midland clubs head three of the four divisions in the men's English League and are propping up two of them before the halfway point of the season.
Cannock maintained their dominance of the Premier Division yesterday with an eighth consecutive win, 4- 0 at Old Loughtonians where Barry
Middleton scored twice in the first eight minutes and Richard Lane and Andy Langlands consolidated the win.
Division One leaders Belper beat Southgate 4-2 to keep their 100 per cent record and Leek also kept their unblemished record and took over sole leadership of North Division by beating Brooklands MU 4-3.
They led through a Paul Nixon goal in the 16th minute and the same player equalised just before half time. Craig Keenan and Paul Dawson established a 4-2 lead for Leek before the home side scored with four minutes remaining. Bournville moved into second place with an 8- 0 rout of Harrogate.
Stourport are fifth after beating Sheffield Hallam Civica 4-2 away. Phil Lashford (2), Irfan Yousaf and Chris Griffiths were the goalscorers.
Luckless Lichfield remain joint bottom with a point. Twice they led at home to Nottingham but lost 4-3.
Andrew Thackray scored in the ninth minute and the scores were level at half time. Goals by Chris Banning and Jez Lemarchand in a five-minute spell put Lichfield back in command for a brief period.
Barford Tigers are joint bottom of the South Division having lost four of their five matches. They slid to a 5-2 defeat at Ipswich after Jimmy Singh had shot them into a 12thminute lead and again scored in the 47th minute.
Birmingham University, who have had three points deducted, are also among the basement teams after losing 6-3 to Whitchurch. Stephen Edmonds (2) and Oliver Needham were University's scorers.
In the Women's National League, Olton lost 3-2 to leaders Canterbury and are in fourth place, four points behind the Kent side, who were put under some late pressure by goals by Lucilla Wright and Kerry Moore.
Birmingham University and Sutton Coldfield are maintaining the challenge on the top two teams in Division One. Hannah Buchan's late goal for the University ended the 100 per cent sequence of leaders Trojans while Sutton Coldfield's 4-1 defeat of Wimbledon kept them in third place ahead of the University and Loughborough Students on goal difference.
Jane Sixsmith delighted the home crowd with two goals and Charlotte Cross and Laura Price struck the other two.
Aldridge celebrated taking over the leadership of the North Division by coming from behind to beat Bradford 2-1 with goals by Jo Walker and Carla Tranter.
In the South Division pointless Worcester lost 5-1 at home to Horsham before becoming the only West Midland side to be eliminated in the Women's Cup in the third round, losing 4-0 to Doncaster.
Aldridge beat non-National League Surbiton 4-2 while Lucilla Wright scored a hat-trick in Olton's 7-0 victory over South Division Southampton. Sutton Coldfield beat Whitley Bay 5-0.
