Four different goalscorers helped Hinckley AFC extend their unbeaten run to seven games with a 4-1 win at home to Paget Rangers.
The returning Brady Middleton was one of those scorers on top of setting up the other three as Hinckley enjoyed the warm afternoon sunshine during the first half.
They were uncharacteristically sloppy in the second and allowed Paget to pull one back, but it was job done as AFC put conceding a late equaliser on Monday behind them.
Hinckley controlled much of the first half without ever really getting to their high-tempo best, the with assistant’s offside flag one of the busiest factors. After Isa Abraham was denied by ‘keeper Lewis Riley when he might have squared for Middleton, Lewis Rankin side-footed wide the sort of chance he would usually take from 10 yards.
But parity didn’t last too much longer, and they took the lead when Middleton broke the offside trap and squared for Abraham to tap home a simple finish.
Five minutes later it was two, Middleton again gaining half a yard on the defence and cutting inside before firing home his own finish.
The former Atherstone forward then turned back to provider, ending a flowing team move with a cross to the far post where Rankin converted with a rasping finish.
Hinckley had made three substitutions by the hour mark, and they made for a disjointed second-half display where they gave the ball away too frequently.
And an improved Paget came close to pulling one back when Dom Ellington’s header from a long throw clipped the bar.
Hinckley soon added a fourth though, as the visiting defence failed to deal with Matt Dawson’s cross and Middleton laid off for Jeremie Agholor to fire home on the angle.
The visitors continued to battle – Harry Parker twice shooting off target when well placed, before Hinckley’s debutant goalkeeper Finn Osborn, in for the unavailable Brandon Bache, made his first save after 70 minutes comfortably holding Connor Ryan’s speculative strike.
He could do nothing, though, about Kallum Powell’s fine strike from the edge of the box three minutes later as Paget grabbed a consolation.
Had Powell’s pass to the unmarked Harry Smart been more accurate shortly after, it could have made for a nervy finish but Osborn clutched that and Hinckley comfortably saw the game out for their sixth league win of the campaign.
Hinckley: Finn Osborn, Matt Dawson, Danny Fraser, Josh Clews, Calum Flanagan (Adam Barber 78), Sam Walton (Joe McNulty 56), Lewis Rankin (Jeremie Agholor 50), Tom Weale, Brady Middleton (Mitch Piggon 71), Jack Edwards (Harry Walker-Donovan 46), Isa Abraham.
Goals: Isa Abraham (20), Brady Middleton (25), Lewis Rankin (36), Jeremie Agholor (61)
Paget: Lewis Riley, Joe Lowe (Levi Dawson 46), Kallum Powell, Dom Ellington, Donald Egbon, Harry Parker, Jonathan Millinchip (Anthony Umoh 46), Ryan Butler (Josh Baloucone 56), Freddie Cockerell (Harry Smart 59), Connor Ryan, De-Quarnai Williams (Sam Smith 67).
Goal: Kallum Powell (73)
Attendance: 175
