In-form Gainsborough Trinity put Hyde United to the sword
Gainsborough Trinity brushed aside Hyde United 4-0, to make it four wins from four, climbing to fourth in the table, with a clinical performance at the Kal Group Stadium on Saturday.
It was a game that typified the Blues' performances this season, with the goals shared around four different scorers in Jordan Helliwell, Fraser Preston, Ronnie Kokkinos and Connor Brown.
With Preston and Brown returning to fitness, manager Russ Wilcox had a selection headaches.
Preston was given the nod to start, while Brown had to bide his time, starting on the bench.
Harvey Sutcliffe came in for a start at right back, while Lewis Butroid dropped to the bench, Aaron Simpson and Elliott Whitehouse the unfortunate duo missing out on a place in the squad.
Trinity were in front inside 80 seconds when midfielder Helliwell pounced on a misplaced ball from Hyde defender Kevin Joshua, his composed right footed finish from the edge of the box giving Jordan Eastham no chance, curled low beyond the despairing dive of the visiting keeper.
An edgy first half ended with Trinity a goal to the good, but the visitors enjoying more of the possession.
However, Trinity sprang to life in the second half, Clarke not far away with a curling effort that had Eastham worried.
Clarke was again involved, releasing Ash Jackson down the left hand-side, Jackson’s cut back finding Preston, who squeezed the ball home, for his seventh goal in all competitions on 51 minutes to double their lead.
The two goal cushion meant the shackles were off.
Sutcliffe and Frank Mulhern linked up, Mulhern's backheel releasing Preston, who was denied his second thanks to a brilliant block by Joshua.
However, Charlie Stewart clipped the home crossbar with a shot that had very little back-lift, serving a warning notice to Trinity, who were restricting Hyde but weren't quite out of sight.
But six minutes later, Preston turned provider to ease Trinity further clear.
Mulhern’s flick on found Preston in space and he released Sutcliffe to get to the by-line.
His cutback found Kokkinos, who feathered a beautiful finish into the far corner to make it three on 64 minutes.
Edy Maieco failed to make a telling connection, with possibly Hyde’s best opportunity, before Connor Brown rounded off the scoring in the third minute of added time, substitutes Ben Blythe and Brown combining and the striker netting through a crowded box to put the icing on the cake.