TRAFFORD had a week of mixed results as their celebrations of ending a winless run defeating Grantham Town 3-1 on Saturday were cut brought down to earth with a 4-1 defeat to Blyth Spartans on Tuesday night.

Trafford had not tasted victory since December 20th, an horrendous 19-game catastrophe that had seen them fall through the relegation trapdoor.

The Shawe View side broke the deadlock against Grantham in the 22nd minute when Liam Blake fed Jon Pritchard and his curling cross was bundled over the line by Chris McDonagh.

The game became scrappy for long periods with the only shot of any note being a long range volley by Danny Meadows that flew inches wide.

Trafford introduced substitute Mark Derbyshire in place of McDonagh and within minutes the giant striker was in the thick of the action, screwing a shot wide from 15 yards.

At the other end, Lee Ndlovu fired across the face of the Trafford goal from a great position before the hosts doubled their advantage in the 61st minute, Chris Palmer collecting the ball wide on the left, cutting inside two defenders and cracking a magnificent drive from 20 yards into the bottom corner past the helpless Jake Turner.

In the 73rd minute it was three with another superbly crafted goal, Derbyshire playing an exquisite one-two with Pritchard before volleying sublimely into the far corner from 15 yards.

Despite the scoreline, the visitors refused to lie down and were thrown a lifeline in the 82nd minute when substitute Liam Hurst found himself in acres of space on the left and coolly steered the ball past Read and into the opposite corner as it finished 4-1.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, a superb hat-trick by Danny Maguire paved the way for a comfortable Spartans 4-1 victory against a youthful Trafford side.

The visitors were on top from the start and Maguire struck after only nine minutes when he broke clear down the middle and coolly placed the ball past the advancing Tom Read.

However, within three minutes Graham Heathcote’s side were level when Liam Blake saw his shot deflected over Nick Thompson after good work by Mark Derbyshire.

Three minutes before the interval, Maguire struck again when rifled a drive inside the far post.

In the 78th minute Maguire completed a fine hat-trick when he outpaced the home defence once more and placed the ball into the bottom corner and things could have been even worse for the hosts but for a brilliant block by Lewis Chambers to deny a certain goal for substitute Craig Lynch.

However, it was Lynch who had the last laugh deep into injury time when he found himself completely clear and had little difficulty in cracking his low drive into the bottom corner past the helpless Read.