The Royals side was much changed from the one that Leek beat comfortably in the Doodson Sport Cup earlier in the week, whilst Lee Casswell brought back Ant Danylyk, Ryan Dicker, Matt Bell and Paul Donnelly into his starting line-up.

The home side started well and Ben Chapman had to be at his best to tip a header from Danny O'Callaghan over the bar in the 12th minute.

On 20 minutes Ash Jackson had a chance following a free-kick into the box but he skewed his shot just wide of the post. Shortly afterwards Matt Bell tried to curl the ball into the top corner but the keeper made the save.

The Royals best chance came in the 25th minute when Daryl Taylor burst through on goal. Chapman came out to narrow the angle and Taylor slipped the ball past him and wide of the post.

That miss proved costly when Blues took the lead three minutes before the break. Good work from Donnelly saw him cross in from the right and the ball broke to Bell who smashed it into the roof of the net from 12 yards out.

Sutton almost pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time but Chapman pulled off a fine save from a close range effort and Tim Grice completed the job by hooking the ball off the line.

The second half saw the Royals exerting plenty of pressure but unable to create very much thanks to some superb work by Dicker and Darren Chadwick in particular in the heart of the Leek defence.

Indeed, it was Blues who created the best chances of the half with Shotton having one low effort parried by the keeper and then in the 71st minute lifting the ball over the keeper but wide off the post when through on goal.

Six minutes from time Dan Shelley had a great chance to seal the points but his shot went wide and the Royals cranked up the pressure in the final five minutes and four minutes added time with a succession of long free-kicks into the box.

However Blues defence stood firm and Lee Casswell's side recorded an excellent victory which combined with other results on the day fires them right into the title reckoning.

Team: Chapman, Donnelly, Jackson, Bell, Dicker, Chadwick, Danylyk, Shelley, Grice (Hall, 63), Shotton, Johnson (Thompson, 90)

Unused subs: Kinsella, Lowe, Baker

Yellow cards: Donnelly, Johnson

Attendance: 173

View the match photos here.