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Six of the best in historic win

28/11/2002

FOOTBALL: North West Counties Div One - Congleton Town 1 Salford City 6

SALFORD'S recent rich vein of goalscoring continued with this mauling of the Bears of Congleton on Saturday.

The highlight of the afternoon was a sweetly struck hat-trick by in-form striker Chris Willcock.

Last time City won at Booth Street was 21 years ago when both sides were still competing in the Cheshire County League.

Following on from the goal feast against Ramsbottom, Salford took the lead in the fourth minute. Willcock found himself involved in the build-up as he played a neat one-two - setting up midfield man Francis Vaughan to hammer the ball low and hard past keeper Matt Towns into the bottom corner of the net.

It took another 20 minutes before Willcock opened his own account. Finding himself in possession of the ball on the edge of the box, he gave Towns no chance with a firmly struck drive. On the half-hour his second goal was equally impressive as he fended off defenders before making space to deliver another precision drive.

Congleton weren't without their share of the ball in the opening half but City were more decisive in attack and defensively were able to absorb what Town had to offer, with striker Danny Booth the pick of the home attack.

City keeper Phil Melville capably dealt with anything which eluded the men in front of him and found himself beaten only once in the game - by Andy Park on 35 minutes.

Any hopes home supporters may have held of a fightback didn't last long after the break and the visitors were soon out of sight after just 10 minutes of the second period.

The hard-working Dave Gardner, whose pacy running with the ball had been giving the Town defence a headache all afternoon sent over a cross that Graham Vaughan headed back into the far corner.

Willcock rounded off his hat-trick after 55 minutes when a poor clearance left Towns out of position and the Salford ace cheekily lobbed the ball over his head into the net.

John Robinson wrapped up the scoring just before the end with a well-taken goal. Racing into the penalty area, he hammered the ball home to complete the half-dozen for rampant Salford.

• CITY will be back at Moor Lane on Saturday (3pm) with Division One newcomers Squires Gate the visitors. Manager Andy Brown will be hoping his side continue to find the target with the ease of the last two matches.