League Two Round-Up: The Perfect Records Go and Five Clubs Land on Seven Points

A week ago Barnet and Crewe Alexandra stood alone on maximum points. By Saturday evening both had drawn, nobody in League Two had a perfect record any more, and five clubs sat together on seven points like commuters who all reached the platform at the same moment. The round's best story arrived at the other end of the drama scale: Paul Mullin, the former Wrexham forward who spent years supplying Hollywood with material, came off the Rotherham bench and scored a 90th-minute winner. And at Blundell Park, Grimsby Town and Fleetwood Town traded goals until neither had anything left to trade.

The shape of the round

Barnet, Walsall, York City, Colchester United and Crewe all finished the weekend on seven points, separated only by their scoring records, with Barnet's eight goals keeping them top. Oldham Athletic and Bristol Rovers sit a point behind after wins of very different flavours. The bottom is just as tidy: Salford City and Rochdale have lost all three, and Shrewsbury Town's first points of the season lifted them off the floor at Salford's expense. Five of the twelve games were drawn, and three of the seven that were not were settled in the last quarter of an hour. This is a division that has already decided it will not be making anything easy.

Grimsby Town 2-2 Fleetwood Town: punch for punch at Blundell Park

Two unbeaten sides met at Blundell Park in front of 7,067, and they left exactly as they arrived: unbeaten, level, and probably a little annoyed about it. Fleetwood took six minutes to get in front, Will Davies the fortunate recipient of a low deflected ball into the area, tapping in at the edge of the six-yard box. Grimsby's reply took patience. It came on 37 minutes when Cian Doyle converted Kieran Green's cutback for his first Mariners goal, the sort of finish that suggests the wait for it was spent usefully. The second half opened with a warning, Ched Evans striking the inside of Christy Pym's left post after pouncing on a misplaced pass from Geza David Turi. Turi's afternoon improved considerably. On 64 minutes he broke forward and slid in Andy Cook to finish under Jay Lynch, and Blundell Park allowed itself to think about three points for exactly five minutes, which is how long it took Finley Potter to run free and head in Ronan Coughlan's cross. David Artell's summary was blunt: "We shot ourselves in the foot." Grimsby are tenth with five points, level with Fleetwood, both still unbeaten. On this evidence, neither will stay tenth for long in either direction.

Rotherham United 2-1 Chesterfield: Mullin writes his own ending

The first league meeting of these clubs in 13 years gave Alex Bruce his first win in charge of Rotherham, and it made him wait until the 90th minute for it. Fabio Tavares put the Millers ahead on 12, keeping his nerve to round Ryan Boot and roll into an empty net after Ewan Otoo's floated pass over the top. Then came the tale of two penalties: Boot saved Tom Bradshaw's first-half spot kick after George McEachran clipped the striker's heels, and Liam Mandeville wrong-footed Ted Cann from Chesterfield's own penalty on 88 after Sonny Aljofree felled Fraser Bryden. A draw looked written. Paul Mullin had other ideas, the substitute racing on to Jack Simpson's slip on the slick surface and slotting home with a classy finish, the ex-Wrexham forward proving he no longer needs a documentary crew to produce an ending.

Oldham Athletic 3-0 Swindon Town: Boundary Park stays locked

Oldham's home record now reads two wins from two, no goals conceded, and this one was more one-sided than even 3-0 suggests: ten goal attempts to Swindon's three in the first half alone. Elliott Nevitt, the 29-year-old released by Gillingham in the summer, opened his Oldham account on 41 minutes with a low drive into the bottom corner from Calum Kavanagh's pass. Kavanagh converted a penalty on 84 after Connor Ripley brought down Mike Fondop as the substitute burst clean through, and Fondop then decided the assist economy was beneath him, launching a spectacular stoppage-time strike from outside the box into the top corner. Ripley's amazing save from Gus Scott-Morris's close-range header was Swindon's best moment, which tells its own story. Micky Mellon's side inflicted Swindon's first league defeat of the season and sit sixth.

Barnet 2-2 Cheltenham Town: the leaders need a penalty

Barnet stayed top and stayed unbeaten, and still walked off The Hive feeling they had dropped something. Charlie Lakin gave them an 11th-minute lead on the counter, drifting on to Kabongo Tshimanga's deft lay-off and gliding a shot into the bottom-right corner, and Jake Reeves rattled the crossbar early in the second half with the game there to be killed. Instead Cheltenham scored twice in four minutes: Ryan Broom drove into the bottom corner after two Barnet defenders went for the same ball, and Charlie McCann slotted into an empty net at the end of a quick break. It took a 78th-minute Tshimanga penalty, won by Oisin Gallagher and sent the wrong way past Wyll Stanway, to salvage the point that keeps Dean Brennan's side first on goals scored.

Walsall 3-2 Accrington Stanley: hard-earned, nearly squandered

Walsall's seven-point start has been built on defensive tidiness, so naturally this one was a five-goal scramble. Reece Smith tucked in a rebound on eight minutes, Josh Woods levelled four minutes later after Jed Ward spilled a long-range free-kick, and Harrison Burke arrowed a fine header from Mason Hancock's cross in the sixth minute of first-half added time. Aaron Pressley nodded in Smith's deep cross on 53 for 3-1, Stefan Mols tapped in a deflected Woods effort four minutes later, and the final half hour was Walsall holding the door shut: Ward foiled rockets from Joe Anderson and Woods, Charlie Caton headed a big chance wide, and Woods fluffed another with seconds left. Second place, earned the loud way.

The rest of matchday three

York City 2-1 Exeter City

York's unbeaten start continued on a wet afternoon complicated more by the transfer window than by the opposition. Exeter left key players Jayden Wareham and Luca Woodhouse out of the squad amid transfer speculation, and their winless away run, stretching back to January, went on. Alex Newby swept in Harry Boyes' low cross on seven minutes for his third goal in three games, and Jovan Malcolm, on loan from Stevenage since earlier in the week, headed in from a corner ten minutes into his debut. Jack Fitzwater's stoppage-time reply came too late to matter. York are third.

Crawley Town 0-2 Bristol Rovers

Both goals arrived in the first half and neither flattered Steve Evans' side. Tom James struck a direct free-kick from 25 yards in off the underside of the bar on 23 minutes, and Bobby Kamwa finished skilfully from Kofi Balmer's through ball four minutes before the break. Nicholas Michalski, on his full home debut in the Crawley goal, had already produced a superb double save to deny Fabrizio Cavegn and Balmer, and Evans called it Rovers' best performance since he came to the club. A second win in three leaves them seventh.

Newport County 2-2 Tranmere Rovers

Shaquille Gwengwe now has four goals in three games, and Newport needed both of Saturday's. His 11th-minute header from Harrison Biggins' cross went in off defender Bobby Faulkner, and after 19-year-old Zane Okoro slid in at the near post and Dylan Jones, on his first league appearance since rejoining from Norwich, finished clinically to turn the game around, Gwengwe blasted into the top corner as the clock ticked into the 90th minute. Darrell Clarke reckoned his unbeaten Tranmere side "chucked two points away". Newport will say a team that fights back that late has earned its point.

Port Vale 0-0 Crewe Alexandra

A local derby in driving rain, an attritional first half, and a goalless afternoon that suited one side rather better. Tom Booth's late save from Onel Hernandez, who had skipped past defenders and looked certain to score, preserved Crewe's third straight league clean sheet. Crewe's season now reads two goals scored, none conceded, seven points, which is minimalism as a promotion strategy. Vale, on two points, at least kept their own sheet clean for the first time this league season.

Colchester United 1-0 Rochdale

Substitute Jaden Williams settled it in the 87th minute, brilliantly steering a first-time effort into the top corner from Kane Vincent-Young's cross. Colchester had pressed most of the afternoon, Brad Ihionvien's close-range shot deflecting wide when a goal looked certain and Harry Anderson's strike drawing a palmed save from Nils Ramming. Back-to-back wins put the U's fourth. Rochdale, bottom with no points and one goal scored, are running out of soft ways to describe their start.

Gillingham 1-1 Northampton Town

Conor McManus marked his first EFL start with an excellent seventh-minute header from Nick Freeman's cross, guided into the opposite corner. Logan Briggs levelled on 36, burying his own rebound into the top corner after Omar Beckles blocked the first attempt. Ronan Hale rattled the crossbar with a first-half free-kick, and both he and James Brophy were denied by smart Zach Jeacock saves after the break. A point each keeps both clubs in the bottom six.

Shrewsbury Town 1-0 Salford City

Shrewsbury's first points of the season came the hard way against a Salford side who created the better chances and missed them all. Macaulay Langstaff had a tight-angle effort cleared off the line in first-half stoppage time, and substitute Kallum Cesay blazed over from close range on 72 minutes. Two minutes later Will Boyle prodded in the winner from Josh Davison's teasing cross, and Salford had lost a third consecutive league game. Peter Cklamovski took responsibility afterwards. His side are 23rd, above only Rochdale, with the misses to blame.

What the third table says

Five clubs on seven points, and five different arguments for staying there. Barnet have scored eight, more than anyone in the top five. Walsall have conceded two. York and Colchester have won late and won ugly. Crewe have simply refused to concede at all: three clean sheets, two goals, and a goal difference built entirely out of patience. Oldham and Bristol Rovers, both on six, have the wins but not yet the consistency. At the bottom, Salford and Rochdale are pointless after three, and the sharpest lesson of the round belongs to Salford: miss enough chances against a struggling side and the table stops calling you unlucky.

Three games in, the division's habit is already clear: it saves its decisions for the end. Mullin in the 90th minute, Gwengwe in the 90th, Williams in the 87th, Fondop in the 95th, Boyle after Salford's misses. In a league where the margins live in added time, the clubs that keep their heads for the final ten minutes are quietly building their promotion case one late goal at a time.

Sources: BBC Sport, including PA Media match reports.