BLUES BLITZ BULLS

This was the second in a run of three tricky looking away fixtures for Neil Bakers Leek Town team and the Blues recorded an impressive 4-1 victory as they took full advantage of a disjointed and mistake ridden performance from their hosts, Prescot Cables, to move within four points of league leaders Macclesfield, who themselves had no game.

There was one change to the Leek starting line up from the midweek El Staffico win over Kidsgrove with Tom Carr coming back into the side at the expense of Lewis Billington as the Blues switched from a previous back five to a more attacking 4-3-3.

There was certainly no sign of this increased attacking threat, or anything similar from the home side, in the first 15mins of the game however in what can only be described as a none event with play mainly condensed in the middle third of the pitch and this period certainly gave no indication of what the rest of the first half would deliver.

It was really the first meaningful thrust forward on 15mins by Leek that brought them the penalty from which they were able to take the lead. Dan Trickett-Smith produced a lovely first time flick onto Aaron Opoku who used his strength to roll his marker Tom Dean on the edge of the area before being pulled to the ground by the defender to earn the spot kick. Having already scored a hat trick of penalties against Prescot in the home fixture earlier in the season Billy Reeves made it four from four by firing into the corner of the goal to put the Blues one up.

It would prove to be a catalyst for a very eventful half an hours action up to the break which would see a burst of three goals in just four minutes of play.

After going behind Cables looked to hit back immediately and came close when a low cross from the left just evaded the sliding Tony Donaldson before the Blues doubled their lead a minute later on 21mins when captain Marc Grocott dispossessed his counterpart, Josh Gregory, in midfield and advanced to about 25yds out before unleashing a ripping effort that flew past Mitchell Allen into the net.

From the Cables kick off the ball was soon won back by Leek and played forward looking for Trickett-Smith. Robert Murphy got to the ball first but his attempted back pass to Allen was underhit and Trickett-Smith was able to reach it before the keeper and slide it under him to make it 3-0 after 22mins.

From the next restart Prescot played the ball back before launching it long where Olly Harrison completely misjudged its flight and only succeeded in glancing an header backwards to allow Kyle Sambor to run onto it and fire a low shot past Danny Roberts to make it 3-1 after 24mins.

Incredibly there could have been another goal from the Leek restart as Carr was played through on the left but as he bore down on goal a Prescot defender was able to get back and just put enough pressure on him and his effort flew just over the bar.

With Grocott, Reeves and Ross Davidson dominating the midfield the Blues attack was beginning to thrive and the Prescot defence were being cut open by the pass and movement of the front three.

On 34mins Reeves again was well placed to clean up in midfield and played an intelligent pass to Trickett-Smith who showed some neat trickery to take the ball inside the centre half which opened up the whole of the goal for him to aim for, but his resultant effort was just too near to Allen who was able to push the shot round the post for a corner.

The corner was cleared but it was only a moments respite for the hard pressed Cables defence as in the Blues next attack Aaron Opoku received a ball played forward to him, turned and played a lovely one two with Trickett-Smith and fired low and hard beyond Allen to score his first goal for Leek and to put them 4-1 up after 36mins.

It was inevitable that such an intense spell of action could not continue and so it proved as in the run up to half time as with a three goal lead Leek appeared as if they were now content to sit back a little more and look to hit their opponents on the counterattack. And this almost proved successful on 44mins when from a break led by Jesse Bavanganga a ball was played over the top for Opoku and whilst the big striker was able to reach the ball at the same time as Allen to block his clearance the ball fell favourably for the home side and so the score remained 4-1 at the break.

PRESCOT CABLES 1 - LEEK TOWN 4 HT

Leek suffered a blow at the start of the second half when, on 50mins, Opoku went down with an injury to his leg. He was unable to continue but the Blues certainly had an able replacement to bring on in the shape of top scorer Tim Grice.

The home side were trying to find a way back into the game and were given an opportunity on 55mins when another error by Harrison gave the ball to Donaldson and he slipped a pass to Sambor in the area but there was a lack of power on his right footed effort and it was easily saved by Roberts.

Play was quickly switched to the other end as Leek continued their counterattacking tactics and Trickett-Smith had the ball played into his path but blazed his effort over Allen’s bar before the Prescot keeper produced another decent save to deny Carr on 59mins.

This time it was Davidson who won the ball in midfield and he exchanged passes with Grice before the ball was played to Carr just inside the area on the left. Carr cut inside the full back and curled an effort to the far corner with Allen flinging himself to push the ball wide for a corner.

Grice should then have scored a couple of minutes later when Davidson again broke up a Cables move and found Trickett-Smith who then played a lovely weighted ball over the top for Grice to run onto. The ball sat up nicely for him to lob the stranded Allen but the striker fluffed his effort and the ball sailed well wide.

On 68mins Lewis Billington came on to replace Trickett-Smith as Baker looked to consolidate the winning margin and as Leek continued to sit back Prescot looked to have run out of ideas on how to breach a formidable looking and well drilled midfield and defensive back line with too many aimless balls forward being overhit or being cut out by a green shirt.

The Blues still looked the more likely side to score from their counterattacks and were unlucky not to do so when, on 82mins, a fine four man move involving Bavanganga, Billington, Grice and Reeves sliced open the Prescot defence and deserved a goal but an unfortunate bobble of the ball just as Reeves was about to shoot meant his effort was sliced over.

To their credit Prescot continued to press and forced a couple of later corners which were well defended by Leek and even when a fierce shot came in from the edge of the area Roberts was alert to it and made a fine save low down and managing to hold onto the ball as a couple of Cables players bore down looking for the rebound.

The final action of the game came in stoppage time when the Blues broke forward once more resulting in Grocott trying his hand again but this time seeing his volley from outside the area saved by Allen.

PRESCOT CABLES 1 - LEEK TOWN 4 FT

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS from ROCKETMAN can be found HERE

The Blues are on the road of the third consecutive time and make the short trip to Hanley Town next week.

REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

Leek Town line up as follows

1. Roberts
2. Bavanganga
3. Keenan
4. Grocott (c)
5. Harrison
6. Wara
7. Davidson
8. Reeves
9. Opoku replaced by Grice (52)
10. Trickett-Smith replaced by Billington (68)
11. Carr

Substitutes : Baker, Laird (unused)
Attendance : 649