Mansfield continued their push for automatic promotion from Sky Bet League Two with a routine 3-0 victory over 10-man Tranmere.
Jorge Grant scored his first two goals for the club since joining on loan from Nottingham Forest and opened his account with a great free-kick after 22 minutes.
Tranmere’s afternoon was compounded by Ollie Banks’ dismissal in the 37th minute for two bookable offences before the hosts sealed maximum points thanks to Tyler Walker’s 19th goal of the season and Grant’s second.
Mansfield moved into top two as a result, but could slip back to third if Bury beat leaders Lincoln at home in the late kick-off.
Ten-man Macclesfield saw a two-goal lead slip as fellow strugglers Cheltenham produced a terrific comeback to win 3-2 at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium.
Michael Rose smashed home an 11th-minute penalty to give the visitors the lead before Macclesfield defender Nathan Cameron was shown a straight red nine minutes later for hauling back Jacob Maddox when through on goal.
However, the Silkmen doubled their advantage through Scott Wilson just three minutes later despite their numerical disadvantage, but Luke Varney and Maddox scored for Cheltenham in seven second-half minutes to bring parity.
And defender Charlie Raglan marked his home debut with the winner for the Robins to end a three-match losing streak as Macclesfield remain in the bottom two.
Morecambe extend their run without a win in to seven matches but managed to salvage a 1-1 draw at Northampton.
The hosts took the lead through Timi Elsnik’s first-half strike but Richie Bennett earned a point for Morecambe with a 52nd-minute equaliser, who are just two points above the relegation zone.
Forest Green consolidated their play-off ambitions with a 2-0 win at Stevenage.
George Williams found space on the right wing before cutting back for Liam Shephard to slide in for his fourth goal of the season after 13 minutes before Christian Doidge made it three goals in two games to seal victory for Forest Green.
Carlisle made it successive wins for new boss Steven Pressley as Connor Simpson scored his first goal for the club in the 1-0 triumph at Port Vale. Striker Ricky Miller saw red for serious foul play after 41 minutes, but the hosts could not hold onto the draw.
Eddie Nolan scored three minutes from time to earn Crewe their fourth successive home win with a 2-1 success over Colchester.
Sammie Szmodics fired Colchester into the lead after 11 minutes but Charlie Kirk levelled three minutes after restart before Nolan’s late intervention.
Wes Thomas’ first-half goal proved enough for Grimbsy, despite the 41st-minute dismissal of defender Harry Davis as they saw off MK Dons at Blundell Park.
Nicky Law grabbed the only goal with eight minutes remaining to help Exeter into play-off places after defeating Cambridge, while Crawley also won 1-0 at Swindon courtesy of Filipe Morais’ first-half stoppage-time finish to end a three-match losing streak.
