Witton Albion 3 Buxton 0
ALBION turned in a sunshine performance in the bitter wind and driving rain at Wincham Park on Saturday.
They were superb throughout, having a complete grip of Buxton’s attacks and providing three high class finishes that were worth their fans getting drenched for.
They had winners in all three departments: Brian Pritchard and Tony Barras were as reliable as lighthouses in the storm; Dave MacPherson resolute and resourceful in midfield and Rod Thornley tireless in attack.
Conditions were dreadful with the rain sweeping from Wincham to Lostock ends, which Buxton opted to use in the first half, though it proved of little help to them, other than territorially.
They ended the half and indeed the match without a shot on target.
Unitil the closing 10 minutes there were only three efforts of accuracy and all zipped past Buxton goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell’s right hand into the corner of the net.
In the closing stages, when Buxton were out on their feet, O’Donnell made four fine saves, from Steve Brodie, Ian Kearney, Thornley and Tom Rutter.
The outcome was already decided with Albion’s three goals coming against a side that had conceded just seven in their previous 11 trips.
Liam Brownhill cut in from the left wing to drill the ball home from the edge of the box in the 16th minute.
Thornley’s finish in 33 minutes from a sharper angle inside the area was expertly executed.
And Rob Lloyd was twice involved in the build up to his 56th minute strike, collected the ball for the third time before letting fly.
Soon after Adam Warlow controlled and brilliantly turned on a Mark Peers cross, but shot wide and Thornley was also wayward which, with the later missed chances, meant Albion fell two short of scoring their 1,000th home UniBond League goal.
But they stretched their unbeaten league run to 23 games and moved 13 points clear of Fleetwood and 17 ahead of third placed Marine, over whom they also have a game in hand.
WITTON: Kennedy; Coo, Barras, Pritchard, Brownhill; Peers (Wilson 73), Lloyd, MacPherson (Kearney 67), Brodie; Thornley, Warlow (Rutter 81).
Att: 557
