Pinchbeck Utd 3
Buckingham Town 0
Relentless Pinchbeck United extended their lead at the top of ChromaSport UCL Division One to six points with a commanding victory over one of their chief rivals on Saturday.
Goals from Josh Smith (18), Ollie Maltby (pen 51) and Liam Ogden (78) inspired the Knights to a 3-0 Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field success over Buckingham Town, who were fourth at the start of play.
Having also seen off title hopefuls Raunds Town 1-0 the week before, Pinchbeck have aced the sternest test of their credentials so far this season.
Delighted assistant manager Allan Ross felt his side were full value for the points and praised their efforts – but knows there is still a long way to go before they can consider themselves favourites to clinch the league championship.
Ross said: “I think we were comfortable and we deserved to win – credit to the players.
“It’s a good relationship. We’re (the management) putting a shift in to get the team organised and they are performing very well.
“I don’t think we really looked like conceding. The workrate is great, we quietly do our thing on the pitch and have got to the top of the league.
“We’re not shouting about being top because we know that there will be losses along the way. But, at the moment, we believe that it’s impossible to fail and we got out there knowing that we’re going to win a game of football.
“We’ve got a good group of players that we can switch around and do different jobs with and we’re training hard. Everything is going well for us, but it’s what we deserve at the moment.
“What we’ve done is found a way to play. To be honest, we may not be top come February and we may just have to settle for being in the top four – but that was the target from day one.”
After a quiet opening ten minutes at the Sir Halley, Maltby was the first to test the visiting keeper with a looping header that was well held.
Maltby had a much better chance six minutes later, but lobbed over the bar after running through one-on-one with the keeper.
The Knights finally took one of their chances on 18 minutes – but they had some help from the keeper. Smith found himself in acres of space on the right, before seeing his progress checked.
There was more than a hint of offside about the goal, leaving the away bench fuming.
However, he let off a speculative right-footed effort that was fumbled into the net by the Buckingham number one.
The remainder of the half was largely even, with neither side creating too much.
After the break the Knights doubled their lead within six minutes. Moments after Smith saw a big penalty appeal turned away, the hosts earned a penalty for handball – and Maltby tucked the spot-kick low into the net.
Top scorer Maltby almost made it 3-0 soon after following a smart turn and strike, but his effort flew over the bar.
At the other end, keeper Dan Swan was called into action for the first time on 75 minutes – but he saved well at his near post.
That was as close as Buckingham got to launching a comeback, however, with Ogden wrapping up the three points with a low finish from close range 12 minutes from time.
Tom Sergeant and Tyler Wright both had late chances to add a fourth, but the Knights long had the points wrapped up.
To complete a great day, young striker Oli Shackleton – signed on a work experience loan from Peterborough United – made his debut as a second-half substitute.
Player/boss Ian Dunn added: “We watched them on Wednesday and I think they had three missing from that game. We put a plan together and it worked a treat.
“They were a threat on the break, but we played really well.
“Over the past two games is six points, four goals and no goals conceded against two of our main rivals at the top of the league.
“That’s fantastic – and massive – for us. To concede just two goals in the last eight games is some effort from the lads.
“I said at the start of the season that, if we can be consistent and put a run together, it will ultimately put us at the right end of the table.
“The run we are currently on is fantastic and we’ve just got to try and keep it going.
“We know there will be days when we don’t play well, but then we need to make sure that we don’t lose.
“We’ve also adapted to the winter conditions well. We’re cutting out those sloppy errors and making sure we’re effective.
“The lads are working very, very hard and are putting their bodies on the line for the cause. That was evident again here – they worked their socks off.”
Pinchbeck: Swan, Gordon, Brooks, Tidswell, Jack Smith, A Murrell, Josh Smith (Shackleton 70), Shipley, Maltby (Sergeant 79), Wright, Ogden (Edwards 79). Not used: Gardner, Dunn.
Attendance: 66.
