Things can change a lot in a week. Seven days before Ware had surrendered the high ground at Highgrounds, failing to apply the coup de grace to bottom side Kempston Rovers after having deservedly held a 2-0 half time lead. Defeat in those circumstances suggested to a lot of supporters that there was now no chance of a third consecutive play-off place.

One must, of course, be wary of reading too much into one result and one performance but the arrival of Jack Grosvenor in defence and the return of Alex Warman to midfield certainly made a difference. Ironically, Warman made his debut for Ware two seasons ago in a 5-0 win at Kempston’s Highgrounds but after five appearances he went on his way. Fans will be hoping he stays for longer now.

Both he and Grosvenor, the former Enfield player, brought something extra to the team in this game. Their team mates must have sensed this in midweek training because the whole side seemed to have upped their game from the very start. As a result Ware recorded their first five-goal haul since October 2022.

They needed to because Leighton were no slouches and some would have thought edged the first half which entertained a decent sized crowd on a bitingly cold afternoon. Grosvenor was winning headers and cutting out attacks, or returning for a second go if he was temporarily bested the first time. Warman demonstrated good awareness and ball skills that could take him on runs past opponents. No wonder their team mates responded.

To be fair they weren’t the only change to the side. Stef Georgiou, whose frustrating injury problems have kept him out of the team for far too much of the season, was back in at right back whilst that allowed David Sota to return to left back at the expense of Ben Siggers.

Georgiou had made his debut for Ware in the return fixture back in September when he demonstrated his skill with long runs from deep and even scored in the 4-0 win. He may well think of Leighton as his lucky side because he did both again in this game.

In fact it was his run and cross, the latter almost too far beyond the Leighton goal, that brought the opening goal. Richard Ennin rescued the ball out wide on the goal line and returned it quickly to the penalty area where Jack Dreyer rose to head it agonisingly slowly beyond Xavier Comas Leon and into the net.

In a cut and thrust half it wasn’t long before Leighton were level. A free kick wasn’t defended well and Alfie Powell was the beneficiary as he headed home two minutes later. The visitors then took a degree of control but Ware withstood the pressure and ended the half with Warman’s header off the post and then Comas Leon for a corner.

Ware drew clear in the second half as they kicked towards the home end and were ahead just five minutes in thanks to another of Liam Dulson’s clinical penalty kicks. Grosvenor had been brought down by Lee Cooksey as he tried to get his foot on a ball in the area.

Dulson was to enjoy more involvement, first when he received from Georgiou, held the ball and then threaded an accurate pass through the defence and back to Georgiou who had continued his run to score past the now exposed Comas Leon.

Leighton couldn’t quite get back into the game but were perhaps a little hard done by when Ware scored two more goals in added time. The first when Dulson was free to bear down on goal, drew Comas Leon away from his charge, before rounding him and scoring past a recovering defender.

The second, a contender for goal of the match, allowed Joe Dearman to round off a good performance when he lobbed Comas Leon from 35 yards after Ben Farrell’s mistake had given him the ball. At Kempston, Dearman’s substitution in the second half had seen him leave the field cursing loudly. As I said, things can change a lot in a week.

Ware: Stefanos Georgiou, David Sota, Mitch Hahn (Freddy Moncur 57mins), Darion Furlong, Jack Grosvenor, Joe Dearman, Alex Warman, Liam Dulson, Jack Dreyer, Richard Ennin. Unused subs: Ben Siggers, Michael Toner, Ekow Croker, Matt Walsh.