Hinckley AFC hit their 100th league goal of the season as they moved up to second in the table with a 7-0 win over AFC Bridgnorth.
AFC scored six of those seven goals after half time as they put in a clinical display to extend their winning streak.
Leading scorer Chandler Pegg was the chief tormentor as he hit a hat-trick to take his place at the top of the league’s goalscoring charts, while Matt Dawson, Lewis Rankin, Sam Walton and an own goal rounded off the scoring.
Bridgnorth came into the game on a six-game winless run but settled nicely against their hosts, albeit without threatening Brandon Bache’s third straight clean sheet.
But although Hinckley weren’t at their very best during the opening 45 minutes, they still created chances aplenty and got better as the half wore on.
Joe Obi thought he’d given Hinckley a 13th-minute lead when his header looked to have crossed the line before it was cleared, but the assistant kept his flag down and Bridgnorth survived.
The flag then went up to deny Pegg an opener, the same player having already lashed one wide of the near post, before the opener on the half hour mark. Pegg was the man to get it, taking advantage after Dawson won the ball in the Bridgnorth half and fed the striker to score with a precise low finish.
Danny Fraser then went through on goal but shot straight at visiting ‘keeper Harvey Coley, who also denied Isa Abraham, as Hinckley wondered whether it would turn into a frustrating afternoon.
But any doubts over the result were quashed in a brutal five-minute spell early in the second half as Hinckley put the game to bed.
After Pegg uncharacteristically headed an Abraham cross wide from six yards, Hinckley netted three times in five minutes. Dawson grabbed the first of that spell with the individual goal of the game, cutting in from the right and smashing home a left-footer from outside the box.
The cheers had barely died down when Sam Walton reacted quickest to convert after Coley could only parry Rankin’s set piece for his first Hinckley goal.
And Pegg grabbed his second in similar circumstances shortly after, following up after Coley couldn’t hold Dawson’s strike.
With the win secured, Hinckley made a host of substitutions and the introduction of Adam Barber pushed Fraser further forward. His cross yielded the fifth goal as Matt Dudley turned the ball into his own net.
Bache had to make two saves to preserve his third shut out in a row, a routine one from Callum White and a smart fingertip effort to push over from Ryan Taylor.
But Hinckley continued to dominate and, with 99 league goals on the board, they brought up three figures with 11 minutes to play. Fittingly, it was Pegg who got three goal as he rounded the ‘keeper to slide home from a tight angle for his third of the match and division-high 30th of the season.
And Rankin added the cherry on top in stoppage time, finishing a neat team move by burying a low shot beyond Coley to complete an excellent afternoon for Joe Conneely’s charges.
Hinckley: Brandon Bache, Matt Dawson, Danny Fraser, Sam Ellis, Joe Obi (Jack Edwards 79), Sam Walton (Nick Brandish 70), Lewis Rankin, Tom Weale (Joe McNulty 58), Chandler Pegg, Lewis Collins (Harry Walker-Donovan 46), Isa Abraham (Adam Barber 58).
Goals: Chandler Pegg (29, 57, 79), Matt Dawson (52), Sam Walton (54), Matt Dudley (65 OG), Lewis Rankin (90).
Bridgnorth: Harvey Coley, Matt Dean, Will Reid, Ryan Hadley, Callum Hill, Matt Dudley (Jack Luckett 75), Ryan Taylor, Charlie Swingwood (Callum White 50), Ryan Bradshaw, Luke Morris (Will Bates 58), Dominic Heath (Harry Minifie 65).
Attendance: 195
