GREAT Harwood Town comfortably swept aside NWCL Division Two strugglers Daisy Hill by four clear goals.

Two strikes in each half disposed of the Westhoughton outfit, however Town's excellent defensive display was what pleased manager John Hughes the most.

He said: "I've bemoaned our poor performances at the back over recent weeks, but we were on the ball today.

"We could have perhaps won more handsomely but this result will hopefully give us some confidence as we head into the Christmas programme."

John Eastham got the scoring underway inside ten minutes, expertly slotting home after drifting past two defenders, and added his second on the half hour mark.

With Richard Fogarty leading the line admirably, Town always looked capable of building on their lead and that they did 15 minutes from time when second half substitute Chris Heslop showed his markers a clean pair of heels to race clear and drive the ball into the bottom corner.

And Heslop completed the rout soon after, his pace once again allowed him to go on a dazzling run from the halfway line before lashing the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area.

GREAT HARWOOD TOWN...4 DAISY HILL...0

HIGH-RIDING Bacup kept their sights on the top three as they notched a 2-1 win at Ashton Town.

Manager Brent Peters saw his side slip behind inside 10 minutes as Shinks put the home side ahead, but Bacup battled back to get on terms in the second half.

Anderson netted the equaliser on 69 minutes and the same player fired home the winner just 60 second later.

Divisional leaders Padiham registered their 12th league win in 14 outings but had to settle for a 1-0 home win over Leek CSOB.

The Padiham hero was leading scorer Ian Pilkington who scored on 42 minutes to take his season's tally to 15 goals - 10 of them being scored in the league.

Clitheroe also had to settle for a point in Division One.

The third in the table outfit were at Newcastle Town and were held to a 0-0 draw.

And there was no respite for bottom of the table Ramsbottom. They were beaten 2-1 at Prescot Cables with the home side taking a 39th minute lead through Todd.

They added a second through Baker in the second half, though Ramsbottom did manage to make them sweat in the closing stages after Lomax netted five minutes from time.