Amotherby & Swinton claimed a valuable three points in their race for the York Minster Engineering League division two title with a 1-0 win over Ouseburn United.

A&S’s day was marred by a nasty injury to Ben Saltmer, who will miss the remainder of the season with knee ligament damage.

But it turned out to be a key victory as title rivals Terrington Glory and Heworth both slipped up.

Leaders Terrington lost 4-2 at Strensall as goals by Ben Richardson and Alex Yates were cancelled out by John Etherton, John Cooper, Shaun Lyons and Chris Cooper.

Glory remain top but Amotherby are now only four points behind with three games in hand – with the Ryedale rivals meeting this coming weekend.

Third-placed Crayke drew at Church Fenton, and Heworth, who can get into the title reckoning if they win their games in hand, played out a goalless draw at Rawcliffe.

A&S, who were missing seven first-teamers against lowly Ouseburn, won the game thanks to an unlikely source – player-manager Matty Hood getting the only goal of the game in his first start for nearly a year.

It came midway through the first half when, from a Matty Turnbull through ball, Hood ran clear of the defence, rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into an empty net.

ASFC were generally in control and looked solid throughout.

Hood and Bean spurned further chances in the second half while a 30-yard thunderbolt from Matty Webster came back off the crossbar late on.

Old Malton St Mary’s dropped to sixth in the premier division after a disappointing 4-1 loss to Haxby United. John Newton got St Mary’s sole goal as Ben Janes (2), Chris Dyson and Jamie Green all netted for Haxby.

Malton & Norton, though, kept alive their faint hopes of promotion from division one with a 2-1 win at Tockwith – Marcus Godsell hitting both goals for the Ryedale side.

M&N, to nick the runners-up spot behind champions Wigginton Grasshoppers, must now win their last two games and hope second-placed Nestlé Rowntree lose in their final encounter.

Amotherby & Swinton Reserves got on the goal trail to beat Nestlé Rowntree Reserves 8-2 in the Reserve League Cup first round.

Andy Philips (2), Richard Cass, Adam Gray, Matt Shipley, Ryan Boyd, Christian Wilkinson and Kieran Wall were all on target.

Old Malton Reserves ousted Pocklington Reserves 3-0 with goals from Drew Scott, Josh Beech and Dean Liddell to set up a home clash with Huntington.